Liége and the Ardennes

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LIEGE© *

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Cornell University Library
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Liege and the Ardennes,

3 1924 028 360 216

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LIEGE

AND THE ARDENNES

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LIEGE AND THE

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Contents

CHAPTER I

PAOE

Introduction ..... ..... 3

CHAPTER II

Early History of Liege — Bishop Notger — The Court

OF Peace , . . . . . . . .11

CHAPTER III

The Dukes of Burgundy — Destruction of Liege by

Charles the Bold .29

CHAPTER IV
The Wild Boar of Ardennes ..... 49

CHAPTER V

!^rard de la Marck — The Principality in the Sixteenth

Century ......... 63

CHAPTER VI

The Chiroux and the Grignoux — The Tragic Banquet

of Warfusjee ........ 79

V

vi CONTENTS

CHAPTER VII

PAOB

The Gaming-Tables at Spa — The French Revolution —

Annexation of the Principality .... 95

CHAPTER VIII

Ll^GE AND THE VaLLEY OF THE MeUSE IN MoDERN TiMES

— Bouillon 107

Index 121

List of Illustrations

1. Pont des Arches, Liege .... Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

2. The Chateau de Waulsort on the Meuse ... 4

3. ChSteau de Walzin, in the Lesse Valley

4. The Episcopal Palace — Outer Court, Liege

5. Escalier de la Fontaine, Li^ge ....

6. The Hospital, Dinant

7. La Maison Curtius, Liege .....

8. Le Rocher Bayard, Dinant

9. Old House of the Quai de la Goffe, Liege .

10. A Peasant Woman of the Ardennes ...

11. The River Sambre seen from the Pont de Sambre.

Namur ........

12. La Gleize, a village in the Ardennes ...

13. General View of Dinant

14. The Romanesque Church, Hastiere

1,5. Le Perron Liegeois, Li6ge

l6. La Vieille Boucherie, Liege ....

6
12
18
24
30
S6
42
50

54
58
66
74
80
86

viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FAOISa PAGE

17. The Episcopal Palace — Inner Court, Li6ge ... 90

18. Pont du Prophfete, Promenade Meyerbeer, Spa Woods 98

19. Pont de Jambes et Citadelle, Namur . . . .108

20. Chateau de Bouillon, in the Semois Valley . . .112

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER T

INTRODUCTION

The map of Belgium during the Middle Ages, and
down to the period of the French Revolution, shows
the outlines of a large territory lying to the south
of Brabant. On the west it extends to the French
dominions ; on the east are Germany and the
Duchy of Limbourg ; the Duchy of Luxembourg
bounds it on the south. This territory was known
as the Principality of Lidge.

The aspect of this part of Belgium is entirely
different from that of the other provinces. The
River Semois, rising near Arlon, the capital of
Belgian Luxembourg, flows through quiet meadows,
a slow and placid streamlet, bordered by rushes
and willow-trees, till it reaches the western ex-
tremity of the mountainous forests of Ardennes.
There it enters a narrow winding valley, thickly
wooded, with rocky deUs, and banks so precipitous
that in some places there is not even a footpath,
and travellers must pass from side to side in boats

1—2

4 LI]^GE AND THE ARDENNES

when making their way along the margin of the
stream. Emerging from this defile, it crosses the
French frontier, and joins the Meuse near Mon-
therm^. From thence the Meuse flows to the
north till it enters Belgium a short distance beyond
the toAvn of Givet.

The romantic valley of the Meuse stretches on
for miles, past Hasti^re, with its abbey of the
eleventh century, peaceful Waulsort, in former
times a Benedictine settlement, but now a favourite
summer resort, and the picturesque chS.teau of
Freyr, with its weU-ordered gardens. On either
side are steep slopes clothed with trees, and broken
here and there by bold, outstanding pinnacles of
rock. The sweet village of Anseremme straggles
along the road beside the river ; and near it the
Lesse rushes down, between overhanging trees and
towering cHffs, to meet the Meuse. Then comes
Dinant, nestling on the right bank of the river,
below the fortress which rises on the steep hillside.
From Dinant the Meuse winds on to where the
Sambre joins it at Namur, and so onwards to Li^ge
and Maestricht.

To the south of this valley of the Meuse, for
mile after mile, a broad, undulating tableland is
covered by thick forests, where deer and wild boars

THE CHATEAU DE WAULSORT ON THE
MEUSE

INTRODUCTION 5

abound, or opens out into a wide rolling country,
dotted with villages, farm-houses, church spires,
modern chateaux, and the ruins of feudal strongholds
perched on inaccessible rocks.

The appearance of this region has thus nothing
in common with any other part of Belgium, with
the flat, densely populated plain which extends
southwards from the coast of Flanders. The people,
too, are different — of quite another type, and speak-
ing, most of them, another tongue. For this is the
country of the Walloons, that hard-working race
whose aptitude for strenuous labour distinguishes
them from the light-hearted, easy-going people of
Flanders and Brabant, and whose language is a
form of old French mingled with words derived
from German roots.

While, moreover, the old-time history of northern
Belgium is the history of great commercial cities,
rolling in wealth and trading to all parts of the
world, with the merchant princes and the members
of the guilds for their great men, the history of
these southern provinces is the long story of how
the PrincipaHty of Li^ge was evolved out of the
chaos of small lordships which existed in the sixth
century, and was governed, not by laymen, but
by a dynasty of priests, who made war and con-

6 LIjfiGE AND THE ARDENNES

eluded alliances on equal terms with the surrounding
princes. It is a story of feudal barons, of the
romance of chivalry, of terrible deeds, of ferocious
bandits, of bishops who led armies into the field
and shed blood like water, often for very trifling
causes.

When, at the end of the fifteenth century, Belgium
was the most opulent country in Europe, the valley
of the Meuse and the wide forest of Ardennes
remained a waste. When, under the house of
Burgundy, Flanders and Brabant flourished and
grew rich, the Principality of Liege was impover-
ished and steeped in misery. It remained separate
and independent, and has, therefore, a history of
its own — ^the history of a State governed by
the clergy, the nobles, and the people ; where
taxes could not be levied without the assent of
these three estates ; where no man could be con-
demned except by the judges, and in accordance
with the laws ; where such a thing as arbitrary
arrest was unknown, at least in theory ; where the
home of the poorest subject was inviolable ; but
where, in spite of all these privileges, year after year
saw one revolution follow another, all the horrors
of foreign and domestic war, and innumerable acts
of cruelty, oppression, and treachery.

CHATEAU DE WALZIN, IN THE LESSE
VALLEY

INTRODUCTION 7

This state of things continued, with scarcely a
pause, till the close of the seventeenth century,
after which the country, though exhausted, pro-
longed its independence for another hundred years,
tiU, with the rest of Belgium, it was annexed to
France, and broken up into several departments.
In later days, from the fall of Napoleon and the
Congress of Vienna down to the present time, it
has shared the fortunes of the modern kingdom
of Belgium.

The whole story cannot be told within the
compass of a few pages ; but enough may be set
down to excite, perhaps, the interest of those who
may chance to travel in this part of Europe.

EARLY HISTORY OF LIlfiGE— BISHOP
NOTGER— THE COURT OF PEACE

CHAPTER II

EARLY HISTORY OF LIJEGE — BISHOP NOTGER — THE
COURT OF PEACE

As to the town of Lidge in early times, the story
goes that one day St. Monulphe, Bishop of Tongres,
being on a journey from Maestricht to Dinant, came
to a rising ground, from which he saw a few wooden
houses nesthng beneath a mountain which over-
looked the Meuse. Descending, he came to a
streamlet which flowed into the river. He asked
its name, and was told that it was called the Legia.
Then the Bishop said to his companions that a
great city, famous in the annals of the Christian
Church, would arise on that spot. He built a small
chapel there, which was replaced, in later years, by
a splendid cathedral dedicated to St. Lambert, and
laid the foundations of the temporal power of the
Bishops of Li^ge by endowing the Church in the
valley of the Meuse with lands which he possessed
in the neighbourhood of Dinant.

But at that time, and for many years to come,

11 2—2

12 LI]&GE AND THE ARDENNES

Liege was an unimportant village inhabited by a
few people ; and it was not till the close of the
seventh century that it became the seat of a
bishopric, which was established there by St.
Hubert about the year 697-

St, Hubert was a son of the Duke of Aquitaine.
Leaving his native country for political reasons, he
took refuge at the Court of Pepin d'Herstal, father
of Charles Martel, and grandfather of Charlemagne.
Pepin's palace was then at JupUle, now a little
town on the right bank of the Meuse, some three
miles from modern Liege, but in those days the
seat of a Court, and the favourite home of Pepin,
who held royal sway over all the surrounding
country.

The legend is well known of how Hubert was
so devoted to the chase that he used to hunt even
on the festivals of the Church, and how his con-
version was brought about by seeing a stag one
Good Friday with a shining cross between its
horns. More sober history attributes the change
of life which turned the mighty hunter into a priest
to the pious counsels of St. Lambert, Bishop of
Maestricht, who persuaded him to go on a pil-
grimage to Rome, where he finally resolved to
devote himself to the cause of religion. He was at

THE EPISCOPAL PALACE-OUTER COURT,
LIEGE

EARLY HISTORY OF LIJ^GE 13

Rome when the news came that Lambert had been
murdered in revenge for haAong pubhcly censured
the evil life of Pepin's mistress Alpaide. On hearing
of this tragedy the Pope made Hubert Bishop of
Maestricht, and he removed the bishopric to Li^ge,
which grew, under his rule, from a mere village into
a large town surrounded by waUs buUt on land
given by Charles Martel, afterwards famous as the
great champion of Christendom at the Battle of
Tours, and son of that Alpaide who was respon-
sible for the death of Lambert. Municipal
laws and courts for the administration of justice
were estabhshed, and a regular system of govern-
ment soon followed. Bishop Hubert spent much
of his time among the woods and mountains, no
longer as a hunter, but as a missionary ; and the
reUcs of the patron saint of huntsmen, who died in
May, 727, are still preserved in a chapel at the town
of St. Hubert, which lies in the midst of a wide
forest on the southern tableland of the Ardennes.

Li^ge prospered under the Emperor Charlemagne,
who conferred important privileges on the town,
and enriched the bishops, who gradually acquired
that temporal power which they wielded for so
long a time, after the vast empire of Charlemagne
had fallen to pieces during the ninth century.

14 LI]^,GE AND THE ARDENNES

The real founder of the temporal power of the
bishop princes of the Principahty of Lidge seems
to have been Notger, who was made Bishop by
Otho the Great in the year 971. He strengthened
the walls of the town, and made it known that law
and order must be maintained within the diocese.
But the great nobles had their feudal castles, from
which they sallied forth to plunder and oppress
their weaker neighbours, and close to Lidge was
the castle of Ch^vremont. This stronghold stood
on a hiU near the site of the modern watering-place
of Chaudfontaine, and was surrounded by the cot-
tages of the baron's vassals, and by several chapels
and religious houses founded by fugitives who had
taken refuge there during the years of the Norman
invasion, when Li^ge, Maestricht, Tongres, and the
rich abbeys of Malmedy and Stavelot, had been
laid waste.

When Notger came to the See of Lidge, Immon,
the ch&telain of Ch^yremont, was the terror of the
whole country for miles around. He raided the
villages, carried away the crops from the few culti-
vated fields, and sometimes rode into the suburbs
of Lidge, made prisoners of the inhabitants, and
held them to ransom. The people implored Notger
to protect them, but for a long time he could find

BISHOP NOTGER 15

no means of subduing, or making terms with, his
formidable neighbour. At last, however, he saw an
opportunity. The lady of Chevremont having
given birth to a son, her husband, being resolved
that only some high dignitary of the Church should
have the honour of baptizing his heir, requested
the Bishop of Li^ge to perform the ceremony.
Notger hesitated, but in the end sent a message
that he would do what was required of him.

On the appointed day the Seigneur of Chevremont
from his watch-tower saw the Bishop approaching
the castle at the head of a long procession of priests
clothed in gorgeous vestments, and chanting psalms.
Praising the zeal of the prelate who had come to
baptize his son with such unusual pomp, he ordered
the drawbridge to be lowered and the gates of the
castle to be opened. The procession entered, and,
when all were assembled in the courtyard. Bishop
Notger addressed Immon.

' Seigneur,' he said, 'this castle is no longer yours,
but mine.'

' What do you mean ?' asked Immon.

' I say,' replied the Bishop, ' that this place be-
longs to me, the only lord of the country. Immon,
yield to necessity, and depart. I promise to give
you full compensation.'

16 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

' It is fortunate for you,' exclaimed the cMtelain,
in a fiiry, ' that you entered my castle under a pro-
mise of safety, for otherwise you leave it torn in
pieces ! Scoundrel ! Miserable priest ! Fly, lest
some evil befall you !'

Instantly Notger gave a signal to his followers,
who, throwing off the surplices, albs, and other
ecclesiastical vestments which had covered their
armour, and drawing the swords which had been
concealed about them, rushed upon the inhabitants
of the castle, and slaughtered them without mercy.
It is said that Immon threw himself in despair over
the walls, and that his wife perished miserably with
her infant son. The castle was razed to the ground;
the religious houses which clustered round it were
destroyed ; and the revenue of the chapels, which
were also laid in ruins, served to enrich the churches
of Lidge and Aix-la-Chapelle.

Whatever may now be thought of this episode
in church history, it made Bishop Notger more
popular than ever. Otho the Great and his suc-
cessors added to the gifts by which Charlemagne
had enriched the bishopric ; and in 1006, two years
before the death of Notger, the Emperor Henry II.
confirmed all these donations by a charter, in which
Namur, Dinant, Tongres, Maestricht, Malines,

BISHOP NOTGER 17

Gembloux, St. Hubert, and other important places
are named as pertaining to the diocese of Li^ge.
Thus, at the beginning of the eleventh century, the
Bishop of the Principality was already possessed
of extraordinary power. A few years later the
Countess of Hainaut, being then at war with
Flanders, sought an alliance with the Bishop of
Li^ge, and, in return for his help, accepted him as
her feudal superior ; and the Counts of Hainaut,
themselves amongst the proudest nobles of that
day, were vassals of Li^ge until the times of
Charles the Bold.

The frightful anarchy of the feudal period was
nowhere worse than in this part of Europe.
Murders, acts of revenge, robberies, took place
without end. A state of war was the normal
condition of society in the Valley of the Meuse and
throughout the Ardennes. Noble fought against
noble, and vassal against vassal. By the law or
custom of these days, the feudal barons had the
right of settling their disputes by force of arms ;
and their prince could not forbid them. But,
though he could not interfere in his secular char-
acter, he could do so as bishop ; and the influence
of the Church, though the bishops themselves
were often arrogant and ambitious, had been used

3

18 LIEGE AND THE ARDENNES

to promote the cause of peace by proclaiming a
truce of forty days, during which prayers were
offered up for the souls of those who had fallen
in battle. A ' quarantaine,' as it was called, being
appointed for the death of each knight, there was
sometimes a whole year of peace, during which
enemies met on outwardly friendly terms, visited
each other's chateaux, and went together to
tournaments or village fetes. Sometimes, during
these periods of repose, families which had been
at deadly feud intermarried, and ladies who had
been made widows, or daughters who had become
orphans, married the very warriors who had slain
their husbands or fathers. But more frequently, as
soon as the ' quarantaine ' was over, every one set to
work again, burning houses and kUhng each other
as before.

At last Henri de Verdun, who became Bishop of
Lidge in 1075, resolved to stop, if possible, the
private wars which were the scourge of society.
He assembled the nobles of the PrincipaUty and
the surrounding districts, and urged upon them
the necessity of at least making an effort to put
an end to the ceaseless strife in which they lived.
' The only means I can think of,' he said, ' is to
choose a supreme judge, with power to punish

ESCALIER DE LA FONTAINE, LIEGE

THE COURT OF PEACE 19

those who are guilty of excesses.' The nobles
consented to this proposal. He himself was
appointed to the new office, and his successors
in the bishopric of Liege were declared, for aU time
coming, judges of the ' Court of Peace.'

The rules of the ' Tribunal de Paix de Li^ge '
decreed that on certain days it was unlawful to
carry arms, and that any freeman who committed
murder or acts of violence should be deprived
of his estate and expelled from the Principahty,
while a slave was to be punished by the loss of
whatever he might possess, and have his right
hand cut off From Wednesday to Monday,
during the festivals of the Church, the Treve de
Dieu was to be strictly observed. The Peace
Tribunal was to decide cases of assassination, rape,
incendiarism, robbery, and other offences which
might lead to a breach of the public peace. Any-
one who did not appear before the court, after
being duly cited, was to be declared infamous, and
was liable to a sentence of excommunication. But
the accused could — such was the warlike spirit of
the times — always claim to have his case decided by
judicial combat.

The Dukes of Bouillon and Limbourg, together
with the Counts of Luxembourg, Louvain,

3—2

20 LIJ^GE AND THE ARDENNES

Namur, Hainaut, Montaigu, Clermont, and La
Roche, signed the Act which established the
' Tribunal de Paix '; and they aU swore to obey its
decisions, except tbe Count of La Roche, who
refused to take any oath whatever.

On this the other barons made war upon him,
and defeated him in a pitched battle. He fled
to his castle and stood a siege of seven months, tiU,
his provisions being exhausted, he saw nothing
before him but surrender or starvation. Suddenly
he thought of a stratagem. He fed a sow, the only
animal which remained aUve in the castle, with his
last measure of wheat, and let it escape. The
besiegers killed it, and, finding that it had just had
a full meal, came to the conclusion that it was
useless to continue the siege, as the garrison
seemed well supplied with food. They therefore
made peace with the Count of La Roche, who
thus remained free from the jurisdiction of the
Tribunal de Paix. The other barons also excused
themselves ; so did the clergy ; and, in the end, the
burghers of Li^ge refused to accept the decisions of
the court, when, at the beginning of the thirteenth
century, they obtained a great extension of their
privileges under a charter granted by Albert de
Cuyck, who had come to the episcopal throne in 11 95.

THE COURT OF PEACE 21

Whenever there was a vacancy in the See of
Lidge, all the princes of Belgium, and often those
of other countries, tried to obtain the nomination
for one of their relatives. In the year 1193 Albert
de Louvain, who had been chosen against the wish
of the Emperor Henry IV., was murdered at
Rheims by a band of German knights, probably
under secret orders from the Emperor, who forth-
with put forward Simon de Limbourg, then only
sixteen years of age, as Bishop of the Principality.
Simon de Limbourg was supported by the Duke of
Brabant ; but the Counts of Flanders, of Namur,
and of Hainaut, refused to accept him. The Pope
suspended his election, and Albert de Cuyck,
backed up by the Count of Hainaut, took posses-
sion of the bishopric, and went to Rome to prosecute
his claim against that of Simon de Limbourg, which
was stUl maintained before the Holy See. Simon
de Limbourg died, or was made away with, at
Rome, and de Cuyck became Bishop.

He was now deeply in debt, having borrowed
a large sum from the Count of Flanders, and spent
it at Rome in bribery to secure his election as
Bishop. This debt he got rid of by the sale of
civil offices and ecclesiastical benefices ; but more
money was needed at Liege in order to repair the

22 LIEGE AND THE ARDENNES

walls of the town. For this purpose a tax was laid,
by decree of the Bishop and the civil magistrates,
on the people and the clergy. The latter refused
to pay, on the ground that they had not been
consulted. The magistrates and the laity insisted
that the clergy must bear their share of the
common burden. The Bishop took the side of the
people against the clergy, aud in order to make
himself popular granted a charter, which was
confirmed by the Emperor Phihp II. in 1208,

This charter of Albert de Cuyck is an important
landmark in the constitutional history of the
Principality of Lidge. It declared that the people
might not be taxed without their own consent. It
relieved them from the burden of lodging and feed-
ing armed men, a constant source of discontent at
that time ; and it freed them from being compelled
to follow the Bishop into battle, unless he was
making war in defence of the Principality, and
even then not till fifteen days after he had
assembled his own immediate vassals. It provided
that no officer of the law might enter a house to
search for a thief or for stolen property without
leave from the owner of the house. No freeman
could be arrested or imprisoned except under a
legal warrant. The justices of the town were to

THE COURT OF PEACE 23

be the only judges in a trial for any crime committed
within the walls. No stranger might challenge a
burgher of Li^ge to trial by combat, but must
prosecute him before the judges. During eight
days before Christmas and Easter no arrest for
debt was allowed, though at other times a debtor,
against whom judgment had been given, must
either pay at once, find security before sunset, or
go to prison.

These, and other provisions of a similar nature,
were the regulations set forth in the charter of
Albert de Cuyck, the principles of which were after-
wards embodied, from time to time, in other public
Acts. It was, like the Joyeuse Entrde of Brabant,
merely a declaration of rights, many of which had
previously existed ; but it gave these rights the
sanction and authority of written law. Thenceforth
the people began to assert themselves, and for many
long years to come the history of Li^ge is a record
of revolutions and intestine wars, the populace
rebelling either against the bishops or the barons,
and of feuds between the bishops and the barons,
in which the populace took part, sometimes on one
side and sometimes on the other. The people of
the Principality, as soon as they had obtained the
charter, refused to accept the jurisdiction of the

24 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

Peace Tribunal. Disputes were not settled, and one
private war followed another.

The most trifling incident was often the cause of
a sanguinary struggle; but perhaps the most foolish
of all was that known as the Guerre de la Vache de
Ciney.

A peasant of the province of Namur, named
Jallet, went to a fair at Ciney, the chief town in the
district of Condroz, in the forest of Ardennes, and
there stole a cow belonging to one of the towns-
men. He took the animal to Andenne, on the
Meuse between Liege and Huy, where the Duke
of Brabant and the Counts of Namur and Luxem-
bourg, with many knights and ladies, had met for
a tournament. One of the company was Jean de
Halloy, the baillie of Condroz, and to him the
owner of the cow, who had followed the thief, com-
plained. The baillie promised pardon to Jallet on
condition that he would take the cow back to Ciney.
Jallet started, driving the wretched beast before
him, but as soon as he entered the district of Con-
droz, the baillie had him arrested and hanged. On
this Jean de Beaufort, feudal lord of Goesnes, the
vUlage in which Jallet had lived, assembled his
friends, and proceeded to attack Condroz. Then
the people of Huy flew to arms, and burned the

THE HOSPITAL, DINANT

THE COURT OF PEACE 25

cMteau of Goesnes. Forthwith the Duke of
Brabant, with the Counts of Flanders, Namur, and
Luxembourg, joined in the fray, burned the town
of Ciney, and threatened to devastate all the
country round Liege. Next the people of Dinant
came on the scene, invaded Namur and Luxem-
bourg, burned many villages in the Ardennes, and
slaughtered the villagers. For three years the war
continued, until at last, when, it is said, no fewer
than 20,000 people had been killed, and the whole
country of the Ardennes, from Luxembourg to the
Meuse, had been laid waste, the combatants came
to their senses. It was resolved to end the struggle
by arbitration. Philip the Hardy, King of France,
agreed to act as peacemaker, and, being of opinion
that both parties were equally to blame, decided
that each must bear its own losses ! History says
nothing about what became of the cow.

THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY-
DESTRUCTION OF LI:6GE by CHARLES
THE BOLD

4—2

CHAPTER III

THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY — DESTKUCTION OF LI^GE
BY CHAELES THE BOLD

The whole story of Liege and the Ardennes is full
of episodes, like the war of the cow of Ciney. It
would be easy to fill volumes with tales of adven-
tures in the VaUey of the Meuse, and under the
walls of Li^ge — how castles were taken by
strategy or by open assault ; how ladies were
carried off, and rescued by some daring feat of
arms ; how desperate encounters were fought out
in the depths of the forest ; how bandits roamed
about, killing and robbing as they pleased ; how
almost the only place where a woman felt safe was
a convent ; how the peasants were oppressed ;
and how the common people of the towns lived in
a state of chronic mutiny. All these things make
up the story of how men and women lived in what
is now one of the most peaceful regions in Europe.
The glamour of chivalry does not conceal the fierce
and revengeful spirit of every class. A history of

29

LA MAISON CURTIUS, LIEGE

THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 31

Cuyck the power of the commons had grown, and
with it their determination to maintain their hberty
and independence. Nor were the nobles more
inchned to exchange the bishops for other rulers,
especially if these were to be the Dukes of Bur-
gundy. For the House of Burgundy had been
detested in Lidge since the winter of 1408, when
Bishop John of Bavaria — Jean sans Pitie, as he was
called by his subjects — had crushed a revolution,
which his tjrranny had produced, by calling to his
aid the Duke of Burgundy and the Counts of
Hainaut and Namur. On November 24, 1408,
in a battle at Oth^e, near Tongres, the revolutionary
army of Li^ge, 30,000 strong, had been defeated,
and a massacre followed, the horrors of which
had never been forgotten. The triumph of John
of Bavaria and his merciless oppressions were due
to the support which he received from the arms of
Burgundy, and the result was that afterwards,
during the struggle between Philip the Good,
Duke of Burgundy, and France, the sympathies of
Liege were always on the side of France.

In 1430, when Jean de Heinsberg was Bishop of
Li^ge, the Burgundian Governor of Namur forbade
the town of Dinant to repair its walls. The men
of Li^ge marched towards Dinant, burning castles

32 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

and villages on their way. Another war seemed
inevitable ; but the Bishop, who had accompanied
the army, apparently against his wiU, prevented
this calamity by going on his knees to Philip and
humbly asking pardon for the excesses which his
vassals had committed. The people of Liege,
however, indignant at this humiliation, became so
turbulent that the Bishop was several times on the
point of resigning. It appears, nevertheless, that
his resignation was forced upon him by the Duke
of Burgundy.

Heinsberg had promised a certain benefice to
Louis de Bourbon, the Duke's nephew, but gave it
to another claimant. Philip having sent an envoy
to demand an explanation, the Bishop said : ' Let
His Highness have patience. I intend him for
a better benefice than that.' ' Which V he was
asked. ' The one I hold myself,' he replied. He
soon repented of this rash promise, and was about
to journey into France and ask protection from the
King, when Phihp invited him to The Hague.
There he was treated with all honour till the day of
his departure, when the Duke suddenly asked him
if he intended to fulfil his promise about the
bishopric. Heinsberg declared that he would
certainly keep his word, but was, in spite of what

THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 33

he had said, taken into a dark room, where he
found a Franciscan and an executioner, clothed in
black and armed with a naked sword, awaiting him.
'Most Reverend Seigneur,' said the Franciscan,
'you have twice broken faith with the Duke.
Resign at once, or prepare to die.'

At these words, so the story goes, Bishop Heins-
berg was so terrified that he signed his resignation
on the spot in favour of Louis de Bourbon, who
was not yet in Holy Orders, and was, indeed, a mere
youth of eighteen, a student at the University of
Louvain, whither his uncle had sent him to be
educated. The Chapter of St. Lambert, by whom
the bishops had always been chosen, complained ;
but the appointment was confirmed by the Holy
See, and the whole spiritual and secular administra-
tion of the Principahty passed into the hands of the
young prelate.

This was a triumph for the House of Burgundy,
which had long aimed at extending its influence to
the Principality of Liege ; but in a few years the
clergy, the nobility, and the people united against
the Duke's nephew, and combined to drive him
from the management of their affairs. In order to
protect themselves against PhiHp, who might
interfere on behalf of his nephew, they appointed

5

34 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

as regent Mark of Baden, brother-in-law of the
Emperor Frederick III., who came to Li^ge
attended by a body of German troops.

The prospect of a war in the Belgian provinces,
which would compel the Duke of Burgundy to
withdraw a part of his army from France, was
hailed with joy by Louis XI. He promised help,
both in men and money, to the people of Lidge,
who forthwith assembled in arms. Charles the
Bold, PhUip's son, at that time known as the
Comte de Charolais, was then fighting in France ;
but a force of Burgundians, sent by his father, had
no difficulty in defeating the raw army of Li^ge,
which, left to its own resources by the Germans,
was cut to pieces on the field of Montenac in the
autumn of 1465. Louis XI., instead of coming to
the assistance of the Liegeois, sent a letter advising
them to make peace with Philip before the redoubt-
able Comte de Charolais made his appearance in
their territory ; and a convention was signed which
laid the Lidgeois at the feet of the Duke of
Burgundy, who became Regent of the Principality.
Peace was duly proclaimed at the Perron in the
market-place of Li^ge. But the ruling party at
Dinant were so foolhardy as to declare war against
Namur. On this Charles the Bold besieged Dinant

THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 35

Messengers sent from the Burgundian camp
with a summons to surrender were murdered by
the townsmen, who in a short time saw their walls
breached by heavy guns brought from the arsenals
of Brabant. Then they offered to negotiate for a
capitulation, but the offer was refused. Dinant
was taken, sacked, and burned. The Hotel de
Ville was blown up by an explosion of gunpowder.
The cathedral was almost entirely destroyed. A
number of wealthy citizens who had been made
prisoners and confined in a building adjoining the
cathedral were burned alive. Eight hundred
persons, tied together in pairs, were thrown into
the Meuse and drowned. The work of vengeance
was not finished until every house had been
demoMshed ; for Charles of Burgundy had declared
that a day would come when travellers, passing up
the Valley of the Meuse, would ask where it was
that Dinant had once stood.

Philip the Good died at Bruges in June, 1467,
and Charles the Bold became Duke of Burgundy.
The new reign began with troubles in Flanders
and Brabant, and these had scarcely been overcome
when there was a fresh rising at Liege, so dis-
satisfied were the people with the terms of peace,
which, arranged after the terrible Battle of

5—2

36 LIl^GE AND THE ARDENNES

Montenac, left them subject to the House of
Burgundy. Frenchmen, sent by the King on the
pretext of mediating between Louis de Bourbon
and his vassals, encouraged the popular discontent,
which rose to such a height that the town of Huy,
where the Bishop lived, was attacked and plundered.
The Bishop fled to Namur, but some of his servants
and some partisans of Burgundy were slain.
Charles, exasperated beyond all bounds, marched
against Liege. On his arrival, 300 of the burghers
came forth, imploring mercy and offering him the
keys of the town. He spared their lives, but only
on the condition that he was to enter the town and
there dictate his own terms. This condition was
accepted, and Charles rode in. The Bishop of
Li^ge and Cardinal La Balue, the Ambassador of
Louis XI., were with him. On one side of the
street stood the burghers, and on the other the
priests, all as penitents, with heads uncovered and
torches in their hands. Charles dismounted at the
Bishop's palace, where, a few days later, in the pre-
sence of a vast assemblage of people, he pronounced
sentence on the town and Principality of Lidge.

Most of the privileges which had been granted
from time to time since the charter of Albert de
Cuyck were abolished. An appeal from the civil

LE ROCHER BAYARD, DINANT

THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 37

judges to the Bishop and his council was established.
The seat of the bishopric was removed from Li^ge,
and it was ordained that the spiritual court was to
sit at Maestricht, Louvain, or Namur. The Bishop
was forbidden to levy taxes on produce carried up
or down the Meuse without leave from the Duke
of Brabant, and the Counts of Hainaut and Namur.
It was decreed that the people of the Principality
must never take arms against Burgundy, go to war,
or make alliances without the Duke's permission.
The walls and gates of Li^ge, and of all other
towns in the Principality, were to be destroyed ;
the manufacture of arms was forbidden ; the
Perron was to be removed, and the Duke was to do
with it as he pleased.

These articles, and many more, all of them
framed for the purpose of curbing the spirit of the
Liegeois, were embodied in the deed which was
read aloud in the Bishop's palace on November 26,
1467. The Bishop and aU the notables having
sworn to obey it, Charles told them that if they
kept true to their oath he, in return, would protect
them. The sentence which was thus pronounced
was rigorously executed. Many of the popular
faction fled to France ; others took refuge among
the Ardermes ; some were executed. The Perron

38 LIlilGE AND THE ARDENNES

was carried away to Bruges, and there engraved
with an inscription full of insults to the people
of Lidge ; the walls of the town were thrown
down ; spies went about the country districts
watching the villagers and gathering information.
So universal was the feeling of suspicion and fear,
and so heavy were the, taxes levied on the wealthy,
that many famihes abandoned all their possessions
and went into exile.

These doings had been watched at Rome ; and
presently a papal legate, the Bishop of Tricaria, came
to Li^ge, and advised Louis de Bourbon to resist
the violence of the Duke's agents, and recall by
degrees those who had fled or been banished from
the country. But the youthful Bishop preferred to
live at Brussels, where the brilliant and luxurious
life of the Burgundian Court was in full swing.
He took such delight in the f§tes for which the
gay capital of Brabant was famous that he actually
attempted to reproduce them in his own desolate
Principality, and on one occasion came sailing up
the Meuse from Maestricht in a barge painted with
all the colours of the rainbow, and made his appear-
ance before the ruined walls of Li^ge surrounded
by musicians and buffoons.

Meanwhile, in the dark recesses of the Ardennes

DESTRUCTION OF LI^GE 89

a band of the exiles had been wandering about,
sleeping on the bare ground in the open air, clothed
in rags, starving, and ready for mischief. These
men, under the leadership of Jean de Ville, hearing
that Liege was unguarded, and that war was likely
to break out once more between Burgundy and
France, marched from the forest to Lidge, and
complained to the Pope's legate. He went to the
Bishop, who was then at Maestricht, and laid before
him the miserable condition of the country. The
Bishop promised that he would return to Liege ;
but Charles the Bold, from whom nothing was hid,
wrote and told him that, as soon as he had settled
his affairs with the King of France, he was coming
to the Principality to punish these new rebels
against his authority. On this the Bishop, instead
of going to Li^ge, went with the legate to Tongres.
This desertion drove Jean de Ville and his
followers to despair. They made a night march to
Tongres, surprised the Bishop's guards, some of
whom they killed, and persuaded, or, rather, com-
pelled, Louis and the Pope's legate to come with
them to Lidge. The war on which the insurgents
counted when they thus captured the Bishop did
not break out. On the contrary, negotiations had
commenced, and ambassadors from France were

40 LIlilGE AND THE ARDENNES

discussing terms of peace with Charles at the very
time of the raid on Tongres.

The summer of 1468 was a time of splendour at
the Court of Burgundy. On June 25 Margaret of
York, attended by a brilhant company of English
lords and ladies, sailed into the harbour of Sluis,
where she was met by Charles the Bold. A week
later they journeyed by the canal to the ancient
town of Damme, where their marriage was cele-
brated at five o'clock on the morning of July 3.
On that same day they entered Bruges in state,
followed by a train of sixty ladies of the greatest
families of England and Burgundy, and surrounded
by nobles and princes who wore the Order of the
Golden Fleece. The famous tournament of the
Tree of Gold was held, after the marriage feast, in
the market-place, and the revels continued for
eight days longer. All was bright and gay in
Flanders ; but far away among the Ardennes dark
clouds were gathering over the Valley of the Meuse.

In the beginning of October the headquarters of
the Burgundian army were at Peronne on the
Somme. Louis XI. went thither with only a
small escort, and sought an interview with Charles.
Whatever his motive may have been for putting
himseK in the power of his rival, he had soon good

DESTRUCTION OF LI^GE 41

reason to repent of his rashness. A party of
Burgundians from Liege arrived at Peronne, ac-
cused the rebels of gross cruelty to the Bishop and
to the Duke's friends, and asserted that some
Frenchmen had taken part in the affair at Tongres.
Charles, on hearing their statements, burst into one
of his fits of uncontrollable anger. ' I know,' he
cried, ' who is at the bottom of all this,' and forth-
with locked up the King of France in the citadel
of Peronne. After three days, during which Louis
went in fear of his Hfe, and Charles meditated aU
sorts of vengeance, the King was set free, and swore
a solemn oath that he would assist Charles to
punish the Li^geois.

Then the allied forces of France and Burgundy
marched into the PrincipaHty. When they ap-
proached Lidge the Bishop and the papal legate
met them, and endeavoured to make terms for the
people, throwing themselves on their knees before
Charles, and beseeching him not to punish the
innocent and the guilty alike. The Bishop, it was
pointed out, had pardoned the affront which he
had received ; but the Duke forbade them to speak
of pardon. He was master, he said, of the lives
and property of these incorrigible rebels, and he
would do with them as he pleased. After this

6

42 Li:^GE AND THE ARDENNES

there was nothing more to be said. The doom of
Li^ge had been spoken.

A sally, made during the night by Jean de VUle
and his men, though it threw the Burgundian out-
posts into confusion, had no effect but to increase
the Duke's anger ; and on Sunday, October 30, he
entered the town at the head of his army, passing
over the ruins of the old walls. There was no
resistance. The streets were empty. The wealthier
inhabitants, and all who had made themselves pro-
minent in the recent disturbances, had fled to the
Ardennes with their families, taking away as many
of their possessions as they could carry. A great
multitude of poor people, women, children, and
old men, had concealed themselves in the cellars of
their houses. Charles and the King rode through
a deserted town till they came to the H&tel de
ViUe. Here the Duke waved his sword on high,
and shouted, ' Vive Bourgoyne !' The King of
France drew his, and shouted hkewise, ' Vive
Bourgoyne !' and at this signal 40,000 soldiers
were let loose.

The people were dragged from their places of
concealment and slain. Many who escaped imme-
diate death ran to the churches for shelter. The
priests, with crucifixes in their hands, came to the

OLD HOUSE OF THE QUAI DE LA GOFFE,
LIEGE

DESTRUCTION OF LIl^GE 43

doors and implored the soldiers not to enter. They
were cut down, and those whom they had tried to
protect were kiUed, even on the steps of the altars.
Old men and children were trampled underfoot.
Young girls were outraged before their mothers'
eyes, or put to death, shrieking and imploring
mercy. Churches, convents, private houses were
alike pillaged. Tombs were broken open in the
search for plunder, and the bones of the dead were
thrown out. Those who were suspected of possess-
ing valuables were tortured to make them confess
where their treasures were hidden. As the day
went on every street in Li^ge ran with blood like
a slaughter-house, till at last the soldiers grew
tired of killing their victims one by one, and, tying
them together in bundles of a dozen or more
persons, threw them into the Meuse, where men
and women, old and young, perished in one strug-
gling mass. It is said that nearly 50,000 died,
most of them in the town or by drowning in the
river, but many from cold and famine among the
Ardennes.

The horrors of the sacking of Dinant had been
surpassed. Charles, however, was not yet satisfied.
His real wish was to wipe Li^ge from the face of
the earth — to destroy it utterly ; but before doing

6—2

44 LE^GE AND THE ARDENNES

so, he made a pretence of consulting Louis of
France. The King, who understood him thoroughly,
replied : ' Opposite my father's bedroom there was
a tree, in which some troublesome birds had buUt
their nest, and made such a noise that he could not
sleep. He destroyed the nest three times, but they
always returned. At last, on the advice of a friend,
he cut down the tree, and after that he was able to
repose in peace.'

Charles took this hint as it was meant, and gave
orders that Li^ge was to be set on fire, and every
building of stone, except the churches and the
houses of the clergy, pulled down. These orders
were carried out to the letter. The flames con-
sumed row after row of houses, and any edifice not
made of wood was undermined by the pickaxes of
an army of workmen who laboured for seven weeks,
till at last nothing remained of Li^ge but churches
and the dwellings of the priests standing forlorn
amidst a heap of smoking ruins. While the work
of destruction was in progress Charles embarked
for Maestricht, sent the Pope's legate back to Rome
with the news of what had befallen the bishopric
of Li^ge, and, having ravaged all the country for
miles around, departed for his own dominions.

The years passed on, and at last there came a

DESTRUCTION OF LI^GE 45

time when the voice which shouted 'Vive Bour-
goyne !' in Lidge was silent, the sword fallen from
the hand which had waved it as a signal for the
massacre, and the proud head of the conqueror
brought very low. On Tuesday, January 7, 1477,
two days after the fight at Nancy, in which Duke
Ren^ of Lorraine had defeated the Burgundian
army, a young page, Jean Baptiste Colonna, son of
a noble Roman house, was guiding a party who
were searching for the body of Charles the Bold to
where he thought he had seen his master fall during
the battle. Not far from the town, near the chapel
of St. Jean de I'Atre, they found a heap of dead
men lying naked among snow and ice and frozen
blood in the bed of a small stream! One of the
searchers, a poor washerwoman who had served in
the Duke's household, saw a ring which she recog-
nized on a finger of one of the corpses, and ex-
claimed : ' Ah ! Mon Prince !' When they raised
the head from the ice to which it was frozen the
skin of one cheek peeled off. Wolves or dogs had
been gnawing the other. A stroke from some
battle-axe had split the head down to the chin.
But when the blood had been washed from the
disfigured face it was known, beyond all doubt, for
that of Charles the Bold.

46 LIjfiGE AND THE ARDENNES

They buried him before the altar of St, Sebastian
in the Church of St. George at Nancy, where the
body of the great warrior remained till 1550, when,
in the reign of Charles V., it was carried into
Flanders, and laid beside that of his daughter
Marie in the choir of Notre Dame at Bruges.

THE WILD BOAR OF ARDENNES

CHAPTER IV

THE WILD BOAR OF ARDENNES

Though the churches and the houses of the clergy
had been left standing, in accordance with the orders
given by Charles the Bold in 1468, the town of
Lidge was ruined. After a time, however, those
who had escaped with their lives began to return,
and by degrees a new Li^ge arose. The PrincipaUty
also recovered to some extent ; but its prestige was
so much diminished in the eyes of Europe that an
alliance with the bishops was no longer, as of old,
an object of ambition to other states.

On the death of Charles the Bold Louis de
Bourbon, who was stUl Bishop, made up his mind
to devote himself in future to the government of
his Principality. As uncle of the young Duchess
Marie, who was the only daughter of Charles by
his second wife, IsabeUe de Bourbon, he had suffi-
cient influence at the Court of Burgundy to obtain
important concessions in favour of Lidge. A yearly
tribute of 30,000 florins, which the late Duke had

49 7

50 LD^GE AND THE ARDENNES

exacted, was remitted, and the Li^geois were pro-
mised the restoration of their ancient charters and
privileges. The Perron, to the possession of which
the people attached great importance, was sent
back from Bruges, and the townsmen showed their
gratitude to the Bishop by voting him a substantial
sum of money.

When he came to Li^ge, among the first to greet
him was Wilham de la Marck, head of the ancient
house of Arenberg. Two of his ancestors had been
Bishops of Lidge, and the family was one of the
greatest in the Principality. This William de la
Marck had been a warrior from his youth. He
was one of the handsomest men of his time, but to
make himself an object of fear to his enemies he
wore a long shaggy beard, and imitated the fero-
cious manners of the brigands who had from time
immemorial haunted the most inaccessible part of
the Ardennes. On his coat of arms there was the
head of a wild boar, and, either for that reason or
because of his fierce character, he was nicknamed
the Wild Boar of Ardennes.

After the destruction of Liege Louis XI.,
anxious to raise fresh troubles in the Principahty in
order to embarrass Charles of Burgundy and the
Bishop, had employed as his agent de la Marck,

A PEASANT WOMAN OF THE ARDENNES

THE WILD BOAR OF ARDENNES 51

who, for the purpose of picking a quarrel with the
Bishop, caused one of the vicars, against whom he
had no cause of complaint, to be murdered in cold
blood. His favourite haunt was the Castle of
Aigremont, a fortalice perched on a hUl above the
left bank of the Meuse, to the west of Li^ge. This
place the Bishop destroyed. Thereupon de la
Marck, who let it be understood that he was acting
in concert with the King of France, and by this
means obtained a numerous following among the
outlaws whom Charles of Burgundy had banished,
declared open war against both Louis de Bourbon
and the Duke.

But when the Bishop returned to Li^ge, on the
death of Charles and the accession of the Duchess
Marie, de la Marck hastened to make peace. The
Bishop granted him a pardon, made him Captain of
the Guard and Governor of Franchimont, rebuilt
the Castle of Aigremont, and loaded him with
favours. But it was soon apparent that the Wild
Boar was untamed. He set the rules of the Church
at defiance, refused to go to Mass or confession,
insisted on eating what he pleased in Lent, ruled all
who were under his authority with a rod of iron,
made himself universally hated by the nobles, and
at last, taking offence at the remonstrances of the

7—2

52 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

Bishop, resigned his appointments, and left the
Court. It having been discovered that he was in
correspondence with Louis XI., who was plotting
the annexation of the Principality, a sentence of
banishment was pronounced against him as a tra,itor.
He retired into the Ardennes, where, assisted by-
gifts of arms and gold from France, he gathered a
strong band of French, German, and Swiss adven-
turers.

Suddenly, in August, 1482, news came to Li^ge
that the Wild Boar was on the march at the head
of 4,000 horse and foot. The Bishop went forth to
give him battle on the slopes of the Chartreuse, on
the right bank of the river opposite the town. De
la Marck, hearing from his spies that the Bishop
was coming on in front of his main body, and
attended only by a feeble escort, lay in wait for
him at a difficult part of the ascent. The surprise
was complete, and the escort was cut to pieces.
The Bishop, alone in the hands of his enemy, cried
out : ' Grace ! Grace ! Seigneur d'Arenberg, je
suis votre prisonnier !' But one of de la Marck's
followers struck him on the face. De la Marck
himself drew his sword, and wounded him in the
neck, and, turning to his men, told them to make
an end of it. In an instant the Bishop fell from

THE WILD BOAR OF ARDENNES 53

his horse a dead man. They stripped his body, and
left it lying in the mud for hours ; and it was with
difficulty that the clergy obtained permission to
bury him with the honours due to his station.*

De la Marck, now master of the situation, called
together the clergy of the diocese, and pressed them
to choose a new Bishop, suggesting his own son,
Jean d'Arenberg, a young man who was not yet a
priest, as the most suitable person. Some of the
canons, with whom the election lay, left Liege to
escape voting. Those who remained were terrified
into obedience, and the Wild Boar's son was de-
clared Bishop. De la Marck, at the same time,
appointed himself Governor of the Principality.

The murder of the Bishop, and the election of
the murderer's son to succeed him, led to new com-
motions. A meeting of the canons who had fled
from Li^ge, and their brethren who had been
coerced into voting, was held at Namur. In that
town, out of the Wild Boar's ' sphere of influence,
having declared the election of Jean d'Arenberg
null and void, they proceeded to vote again. On
this occasion they were divided into two parties.
Some supported Jacques de le Roy, the Count of

* Bishop Louis de Bourbon was only forty-five at the date
of the murder.

54 UJ^GE AND THE ARDENNES

Chimay's brother, while others were in favour of
Jean de Home, a great noble who had been
made prisoner at the Chartreuse, but had after-
wards escaped.

There were thus three Bishops-Elect, and another
civil war broke out. The Archduke Maximilian*
sent an army from Brabant into the Principality,
under PhUip of Cleves, to avenge the death of
Louis de Bourbon. De la Marck laid waste the
lands of Jean de Home, seized Tongres and other
towns, and marched, at the head of 16,000 Li^geois
and a number of mercenaries, against Phihp of
Cleves. But his troops were no match for the
trained veterans of Brabant. The mercenaries were
driven back upon the Lidgeois, who broke and ran.
This defeat did not quell the spirit of de la Marck ;
but Louis XI., on whom he relied, died next year,
and the Pope declared in favour of Jean de Home.
De la Marck then saw that his wisest course was to
make peace, and in June, 1484, a convention was
signed at St. Trond, the terms of which show that
the Boar of the Ardennes was no mere bandit chief,

* The Duchess Marie of Burgundy, who married the Arch-
duke Maximilian of Austria, afterwards Emperor, had died
at Bruges in March, 1482 ; and Maximilian then became
Regent of the Austrian Netherlands during the minority of
his children.

THE RIVER SAMBRE SEEN FROM THE PONT
DE SAMBRE, NAMUR

J_! f[ H^.

THE WILD BOAR OF ARDENNES 55

but an astute diplomatist, and a man of great in-
fluence in the Principality. An indemnity of
30,000 livres was to be paid him by the town of
Li^ge, in security for which an assignment was
made in his favour of the lands of Frpnchimont and
the Duchy of Bouillon. If he should be attacked
by any who felt aggrieved by his recent proceedings,
the Bishop was to help him at all costs. Excesses
committed by either side were to be pardoned, and
those whose property had been damaged were to
have no claim for compensation.

When Jean de Home, now duly accepted as
Bishop, made his state entry into Lidge de la Marck
rode beside him, and the two soon became insepar-
able. They usually dined together at the Bishop's
table. They gave each other presents. If there
was a fete, they attended it in company. They are
said to have even slept in the same bed, at that
time a favourite sign of friendship among the great.
But, though it seemed as if they were bent on
setting the people an example of mutual forgiveness
and brotherly love, there were some who shook
their heads, and hinted that the friendships of great
men who have been estranged are seldom sincere.

Next year there was a fete at St. Trond in honour
of the Bishop of Lidge, at which all the nobles of

56 LIJ^GE AND THE ARDENNES

the Principality, Avith their wives and daughters,
had assembled. De la Marck, of course, was there.
Feasting and dancing went on till late in the after-
noon, when the Bishop's brothers, Jacques de
Home and Frederic de Montigny, called for their
horses, saying they must start for Louvain. The
Bishop proposed to de la Marck that they should
ride part of the way in company, and to this he
agreed. So the Bishop, his two brothers, and de
la Marck rode together till they reached a level
plain, where de Montigny challenged de la Marck
to race him to a wood which was some distance
before them. They started, and left the others
behind. De la Marck, who was mounted on a very
swift horse, was soon in front, and galloped on till
he reached the wood. The moment he drew rein
a band of soldiers, who had been lying in ambush,
rushed out and surrounded him. Then de Mon-
tigny rode up and said : ' You are my prisoner.'
De la Marck, who was not armed, asked what he
meant, on which de Montigny produced an order
for his arrest signed by the Archduke Maximilian,
and told him they must now go to Maestricht.
' Then,' said de la Marck at once, ' it is to my
death.'

They reached Maestricht in the evening, and soon

THE WILD BOAR OF ARDENNES 57

de la Marck was told that he had only a few hours
to live. During the night he was visited by the
Prior of the Dominicans, from whom, having made
confession, he received absolution. Early next
morning they brought him to the scaffold in the
market-place. A prodigious crowd had gathered
round it, and in a window close at hand, openly
rejoicing at the scene, was the Bishop of Li^ge.
De la Marck called to him in a loud voice, reproach-
ing him for his treachery, and uttered a solemn
warning that the Wild Boar's head, then about to
fall, would ' bleed for many a day.' He asked the
nearest of the spectators to carry his last farewells
to his wife and children. To his brothers and
friends he left the work of avenging his death.
He took off his cloak himself, and threw it to the
crowd. Then, Ufting his long beard so that it
covered his face, he bent down, and the executioner
struck off his head with one blow.

The Archduke Maximilian had ordered the
arrest of de la Marck on the ground that he was
engaged in some fresh plot with France ; but the
conduct of the Bishop and his brothers was loudly
condemned even in that age of perfidy. The family
of de la Marck swore vengeance, and the Princi-
pality of Lidge was once more bathed in blood.

8

58 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

Calling to his aid the common people, who had
always loved the Wild Boar, and assisted behind
the scenes by the King of France, who wished to
excite the Li^geois against the Archduke Maxi-
milian, Everard de la Marck, William's brother,
made war against Jean de Home. A sanguinary
struggle, in which no mercy was shown on either
side, went on for seven years, but at last the Bishop
and his friends made up their minds to sue for
pardon.

A conference was agreed to, which took place
on a meadow near Haccourt, on the Meuse between
Li^ge and Maestricht. On the appointed day the
Bishop-Prince, attended by his nobles, but himself
unarmed, met the brother of the man whom he
had so treacherously ensnared. Dismounting from
his horse, he approached Everard de la Marck, and
said : ' I ask you to pardon me for the death of
your brother William.'

Everard looked on him coldly, and said nothing,
whereupon the Bishop burst into tears, and sobbed :
' Seigneur Everard, pardon me. Pardon me, I im-
plore you by the death and passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ !' Then Everard, weepiag also, answered :
' You ask pardon for the death of my brother in
the name of God, who died for us all ? Well, I

LA GLEIZE, A VILLAGE IN THE ARDENNES

THE WILD BOAR OF ARDENNES 59

pardon you.' So saying, he gave his hand to the
Bishop, and they swore to live at peace with each
other.

This strange reconciliation, which took place in
1492, was soon confirmed by the marriage of the
Bishop's niece to Everard de la Marck's son, and
thereafter there were no more feuds between the
families of de Home and Arenberg.

Three years later, in 1495, the Diet of Worms
established the Imperial Chamber, and put an end
to the system of private wars.

8—2

ERARD DE LA MARCK—

THE PRINCIPALITY IN THE

SIXTEENTH CENTURY

CHAPTER V

ERABD DE LA MARCK — THE PRINCIPALITY IN THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Jean de Horne was Bishop of Li^ge for twenty-
three years, during which the diocese was seldom
free from party warfare. At the time of his death,
in 1506, the family of Arenberg was so strong and
popular that the Chapter of St. Lambert chose
firard de la Marck, the Wild Boar's nephew, as
Bishop.* He came to the episcopal throne resolved
to end the strife of factions and the family feuds
which had been the sources of such misery. He
forbade his subjects, under pain of banishment, to
rake up the old causes of dispute. He declined to
hear those who came to him bearing tales against
their neighbours. He chose the officers of his
Court without enquiring into their political opinions,
and let it be seen that, so long as the law was

* ]&rard's father was Robert, Prince of Sedan, Count of
Arenberg, la Marck, and Cleves, and brother of William de
la Marck, the Boar of Ardennes.

63

64 LIlfiGE AND THE ARDENNES

obeyed and public order maintained, no one was to
be called in question for an3rthing which might
have happened in the past.

His foreign pohcy was equally wise. The Princi-
pality of Li^ge lay between two mighty neighbours,
and at first the Bishop's aim was to remain neutral
in any disputes which might arise between the
Emperor and the King of France. But when, on
the death of Maximilian, Charles V. and Francis I.
were rivals for the imperial crown, he went to the
Diet at Frankfort, and supported the claims of
Charles. From that time the Principality, though
independent of the rest of Belgium, which formed
part of the dominions of Charles V., was in as close
relations with the German Empire as the electorate
of Cologne and other ecclesiastical fiefs.* The
bishops, chosen by the Chapter of Li^ge, and con-
firmed by the Pope, were invested by the Emperor
with the secular power, and belonged to the West-
phalian circle of the German confederation.

* It may be convenient to remind some readers that
Charles V-'s father was Philip, son of Maximilian and the
Duchess Marie, daughter of Charles the Bold, and that his
mother was Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand of Spain. On the
death of Philip he succeeded to the Netherlands, on the death
of Ferdinand to Spain, and on the death of Maximilian the
Electors of Germany made him Emperor.

jfiRARD DE LA MARCK 65

In the strong hands of Bishop Erard the Princi-
pality had one of its rare intervals of peace. He
found the city of Liege in debt, and the public
service disordered by want of money. Many plans
for raising funds were laid before him. He examined
them aU, and then said to his council : ' If you will
leave everything to me for four years, I promise to
meet all your debts, and put your finances in order
without oppressing anyone, and without imposing
new taxes.' This oiFer was accepted, and, so great
was his talent for business, in two years Li^ge was
free from all UabUities. During his reign almost
every trace of the destruction wrought by Charles
the Bold disappeared. The citadel of Dinant was
restored. Huy and other places rose from their
ashes, and the Bishops' Palace, which stands in the
Place St. Lambert at Lidge (the Palais de Justice
of to-day), was built. He died in 1538, having
kept the turbulent community of Li^ge quiet for
thirty years.

When the religious troubles of the sixteenth
century first began the reformed doctrines made
rapid progress, and the persecutors were busy in
Hainaut, Artois, and other Walloon districts in the
south-west of Belgium and along the French border.
Almost the whole population of Tournai in Hain-

9

66 LI]6GE and the ARDENNES

aut was Calvinist. But the Principality of Liege,
governed by the bishop-princes, and independent
of Spain, did not suffer like the rest of the Nether-
lands during the struggle. Nevertheless, before
the death of Erard de la Marck the spirit of revolt
against the Church of Rome had touched the valley
of the Meuse ; and, in 1532, Jean Camolet, a
Carmelite father, came to Li^ge empowered by the
Pope to conduct an inquisition. The claim of the
Holy See to interfere with civil government was
knovm. to the people; and the magistrates published
a declaration that the judges of the land were the
only persons who had the right to deal with
offences of any kind committed by the citizens.
The Bishop told them that the inquisitor was sent
by the Pope only to make enquiry into the beliefs
of those who were suspected of heresy, not to inter-
fere with the ordinary courts of law, and that there
was no intention of setting up the Spanish Inquisi-
tion in the diocese. But the magistrates replied :
' We have our own laws. Our own judges can
deal with civil and criminal cases. In matters of
rehgion our own ecclesiastical courts are the only
competent tribunals, and we wiU not permit any
infringement of our ancient privileges.' ilSrard de
la Marck, who was far too wise a man to risk the

GENERAL VIEW OF DINANT

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 67

dangers of a revolution, took upon himself the
responsibility of enquiry into eases of heresy, and
thus saved the Principality from civil war.

But, at a later period, when the Netherlands were
in revolt from end to end, and William of Orange
was engaged in his stupendous contest with
Philip II,, Gerard de Groisbeck, who was Bishop
from 1565 to 1580, found himself in a position of
peculiar difficulty. The Principahty was at the
mercy of both parties. The reformers piUaged the
abbeys of Hasti^re and St. Hubert, and held a
great meeting at St. Trond, where the famous
battle-cry of ' Vivent les Gueux !' was shouted, and
defiance hurled at Phihp and at Rome by a tumul-
tuous assemblage under the leadership of Brederode.
The Prince of Orange himself, driven out of
Brabant, demanded a free passage for his army, and
endeavoured to obtain possession of Li^ge. In this
he failed, but a garrison of Spanish troops was sent
to occupy the town, and the Bishop had to risk the
enmity of Alva by refusing to admit them. At
the Pacification of Ghent, in 1576, the Principahty
of Lidge was invited to join the United Provinces
of the Netherlands ; but the people were, Uke the
Walloons in the other parts of Belgium, intensely
CathoUc, and the invitation was refused. Bishop

9—2

68 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

de Groisbeck was resolved to maintain the neutrality
of his domains. Lidge, he announced with consent
of the three estates, was to remain a neutral State,
and take no part in the quarrels of its neighbours.
By this means he hoped to protect it from the
ravages of war, and, on the whole, he succeeded,
though there was fighting from time to time in the
Valley of the Meuse, and the Siege of Maestricht,
with all the horrors which followed the capture of
that town, took place almost at his own door. His
ideas of neutrality, however, may be gathered from
the fact that he sent 4,000 miners from his coal-
mines to help the besiegers of Maestricht. But the
Walloons were, at that time, Catholic beyond any
other of the Belgian races, and if the ' cry of agony
which was distinctly heard at the distance of a
league,' which arose from the heroic defenders as
the Spaniards rushed in, could have reached Lidge,
it probably would not have touched the hearts of
many among the Lidgeois. At all events, the
Bishop's poUcy was rewarded by a comparatively
tranquil reign, disturbed only by a series of petty
squabbles with the magistrates of Lidge, who
claimed the right of holding the keys of the town,
a right which the Bishop maintained belonged to
him.

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 69

Gerard de Groisbeck died in 1580, There had
often been a question whether it would not be
better for the people of Li^ge if the bishops were
chosen without regard to their family connections.
Men of high position, it was said, bom in palaces,
and accustomed from their birth to flattery and the
deference paid to social rank, were more likely to be
overbearing and ambitious than persons of humbler
station. On the other hand, it was argued that a
small, turbulent State, surrounded by powerful
neighbours, required a ruler who could both secure
useful alliances against foreign aggressors, and com-
mand the respect and obedience of his own subjects.
De Groisbeck had always thought that the Bishop
of Lidge should be chosen from some royal family ;
and on his death-bed he recommended as his suc-
cessor Prince Ernest of Bavaria, grandson of the
Emperor Ferdinand.

When the time came for the election of a new
bishop the States-General of the United Nether-
lands, and the Courts of Spain and France, each
brought forward a candidate, but the Chapter of
Lidge, wishing to remain neutral between these
rival interests, decided in favour of Prince Ernest
of Bavaria.

A description of his coming to Lidge may give

70 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

some idea of the ceremonies which attended the
installation of the bishop-princes. On June 15,
the day of his arrival, the magistrates went to
meet him on the outskirts of the town, and placed
in his hands a copy of the oath which his prede-
cessors had always sworn : that he would maintain
all the privileges of the townsmen and their muni-
cipal laws, and would never encroach on their
liberties, nor allow them to be encroached on by
others. The Prince having taken this oath, the
keys of the town were presented to him. He
returned them to the burgomasters with the words:
' Hitherto you have guarded them faithfully, and
I leave them in your hands.' Then the Bishop's
horse was led forward to the gate, but as he drew
near one of the company of crossbow-men stepped
forward and closed it. The attendants shouted,
' Open for the Prince !' but the gate remained
closed till a town servant had three times demanded
in name of the burgomasters that it should be
opened, when this quaint formahty came to an end,
and the Prince rode under the archway. Within
the walls he was met by the guild of crossbow-men,
to whom he promised the preservation of all their
rights, privileges, and hberties, after which the
procession marched on, led by a member of the

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 71

Equestrian Order bearing the sword of state. Next
came a band of mounted halberdiers, riding before
the governors of the chief towns, who were clothed
in mantles of embroidered silk. These were fol-
lowed by the lords and gentry of the Principality.
Philip de Croy, Prince of Chimay, was there at the
head of 150 horsemen, together with the Prince
of Arenberg, the Duke of Juliers, the Duke of
Bavaria, and a long calvacade of nobles from other
parts of Belgium, and from foreign lands, each with
a numerous retinue of cavaliers. The Bishop-
Prince himself came last, riding between the burgo-
masters of Li^ge, and attended by 800 gentlemen-
at-arms. A triumphal arch had been erected in the
street, on which stood a number of gaily dressed
maidens. When the Prince reached it the pro-
cession stopped, and from the top of the arch a
large wooden pineapple, representing the arms of
the town, was lowered into the roadway to the
sound of music. It opened, and a beautiful young
girl came out, who recited some verses in honour
of the day, and presented the Prince vnth a gilded
basket full of jewelled ornaments and silver cups
In the market-place there were three stages. On
the first were four boys, representing the ecclesi-
astical estate, who presented a golden statue as a

72 LI]&GE AND THE ARDENNES

S3rmbol of the Christian Faith. At the second a
sword of honour, decorated with gold and precious
stones, was given by the estate of nobles. A golden
heart was the offering of the third estate. Close at
hand there was a platform, on which a man of the
common people knelt before a judge, holding in his
hands a scroll, on which were the words, ' Let both
sides be heard.'

At the door of the Cathedral of St. Lambert the
leader of the choir laid his hand on the Prince's
saddle to signify that, by ancient custom, he claimed
the horse and its trappings as the perquisites of his
office. When the procession had entered the
building the canons welcomed the Bishop in the
name of the Chapter, clothed him in a rich
cassock, and conducted him to the high altar,
where, the Bishop kneeling and the whole assem-
blage of nobles and Churchmen standing round,
the oath sworn by every Bishop of Li^ge was read
aloud.

By this oath he bound himself to maintain un-
altered all the rights of the diocese. If he became
a cardinal, he must defend these rights before the
Holy See at Rome, and, above all, the right of the
Chapter to elect the Bishops of Li^ge. He must
not aUenate any portion of the Principality without

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 73

the consent of the Chapter, nor suiFer the country
to become tributary to any foreign State. His
usual place of residence must be within the Princi-
pality, and if he had to leave it for a time he must
return when his presence was deemed necessary in
the interests of the people. He must impose no
taxes without the consent of the three estates. He
must not abandon any of the national strongholds,
and the commanders at such places as the castles
of Bouillon, Huy, and Dinant must be natives of
the country. No foreigner might hold any office
of State ; and the Privy Council must be composed
of canons and other persons who had taken the oath
of fidelity to the Chapter. No alliances must be
made, no war declared, and no engagements of any
kind entered into with foreign Princes without
leave from the Chapter.

These are only a few of the many obligations
which were imposed upon the Princes of Li^ge.
Ernest of Bavaria swore to them aU, but it was
soon apparent that it was impossible for the Princi-
pality to hold aloof from all connection with ex-
ternal pohtics. By this time the Reformation had
triumphed in the greater part of Gemiany ; but the
House of Bavaria remained firmly attached to the
Catholic Church, and when Gerard Truchses, Arch-

10

74 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

bishop of Cologne, and William de MeurSj Bishop
of Miinster, abandoned the old faith, the vacant
Sees were conferred on Prince Ernest, who thus
not only held three bishoprics at the same time,
but had to defend his position by force of arms
against the Protestant princes. He spent most of
his time in Germany, while the Principahty of
Li^ge was entered by Spanish and Dutch troops,
who behaved with equal harshness to the inhabi-
tants. A small party of Dutchmen surprised the
castle of Huy and took it, though without any
hves being lost on either side. Prince Ernest com-
plained on the ground that the Principahty was
neutral, but the Dutch repUed, and with perfect
truth, that the neutraUty of Lidge was a mere
pretence, as the Bishop was an active partisan on
the side of their enemies. He, therefore, asked
help from the Spaniards, by whom Huy was
stormed and recaptured after a stout resistance.
But, on the whole, it appears that, in spite of the
strict orthodoxy of the Li^geois, the Catholics were
even more unpopular than the Protestants, for the
Archduke Albert having complained that the
countrjrfolk showed more animosity against his
soldiers than against the Dutch, he was told that
people generally hated those most who did them

THE ROMANESQUE CHURC;H, HASTIERE

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 75

most harm. Prince Ernest himself spoke bitterly
of the way in which money was extorted for the
support of the Spanish garrisons in the Ardennes.

It was not till the Twelve Years' Truce was con-
cluded between the 'Archdukes ' Albert and Isabella
and the States- General that the Principality was
freed from the incursions of foreign troops. This
was in 1 609. Three years later Ernest of Bavaria
died, and was succeeded in the episcopal thrones of
Liege and Cologne by his nephew Ferdinand.

10—2

THE CHIROUX AND THE GRIGNOUX—

THE TRAGIC BANQUET OF

WARFUSEE

CHAPTER VI

THE CHIROUX AND THE GRIGNOUX — THE TRAGIC
BANQXJET OF WARFUSEE

Ferdinand of Bavaria's reign was one long
quarrel with the magistrates of Li^ge. He soon
found that during his uncle's frequent absences
in Germany the burgomasters had usurped many
powers which had hitherto belonged to the Bishop.
They issued their own decrees without his authority,
and sometimes cancelled his orders without con-
sulting him. They took upon themselves to appoint
officers, to call the citizens to arms, and to send
representatives to foreign Courts. Their pretensions,
in short, had risen so high as to make it evident
that they aimed at nothing less than supreme
power.

At last a time came when matters were brought
to a crisis by the election as burgomasters of
two popular candidates, William Beeckmann and
S^bastien La Ruelle, whom the people insisted
on choosing against the wishes of Ferdinand, who

79

80 LIl^GE AND THE ARDENNES

had irritated the Liegeois by bringing German and
Spanish troops into the Principality to support his
rights. Beeckmann died suddenly. A rumour that
he had been poisoned by the Bishop's friends inflamed
the passions of the mob, who hstened eagerly to
La Ruelle when he told them that the intimate
relations of their Prince with Austria and Spain were
dangerous to the independence of the country.

There were at this time two factions in Li^ge —
the ' Chiroux ' and the ' Grignoux.' It appears that
some young men of rank had returned from a visit
to Paris dressed in the latest fashion, with white
stockings and boots falling over their calves, which
made the wits of the town say that they were like
a breed of swallows known as ' Chiroux.' One day,
at the Church of St. Lambert, some of the populace,
seeing a party of these dandies, called out, ' Chiroux !
Chiroux !' The others answered back with cries of
' Grignoux ' — that is, Grogndrds, or malcontents.
Hence the nicknames. The Chiroux supported the
Bishop, while the Grignoux opposed him. The
former were, hke Ferdinand, for maintaining close
relations with Germany, while the latter were
supposed to court a friendship with the King of
France. At this juncture we come across one of
the most curious episodes in the story of Lidge.

82 LIEGE AND THE ARDENNES

to the Bishop, advising him to be on his guard
against the intrigues of the French envoy and the
Grignoux.

Ferdinand, on receiving this warning, despatched
Count Louis of Nassau to Li^ge w^ith a letter to
the magistrates, in which he reprimanded them
severely, and accused them of a treasonable corre-
spondence with France. La Ruelle answered in
acrimonious terms, declaring that the country was
being ruined by German soldiers sent there by the
Bishop. To this Ferdinand repKed that, as the
Li^geois would not do their duty as loyal subjects
willingly, he would find means to compel them ;
and presently an army of Imperial troops marched
into the Principality, and encamped near Li^ge.

And now a new actor comes upon the scene.
The Count of Warfusde, who had been employed
in turn by Spain and Holland, and betrayed them
both, was at this time living in banishment at
Li^ge. Posing as an adherent of the F'rench side,
he secured the confidence of La Ruelle and the
Abb^ de Mouzon, for both of whom he professed
a warm friendship ; but, in reality, he was in corre-
spondence with the Court at Brussels, and had
promised that, if a few soldiers were placed at his
disposal, he would crush the French party in Lidge.

THE CHIROUX AND THE GRIGNOUX 81

A Baron de Pesche, who lived in the district
between the Sambre and the Meuse, having a
lawsuit before the judges at Lidge, requested one
of his kinsmen, the Abbd de Mouzon, a Frenchman,
to manage the case. De Mouzon, an acute man
with a talent for political intrigue, made full use
of his opportunities, and soon knew all about the
feud between the Chiroux and the Grignoux, the
existence of German and French factions, and
everything that was going on in Li^ge. He
informed the Ministers of Louis XIII. that the
people of Li^ge were at heart favourable to France,
and that the ties which bound them to Germany
could easily be broken, as the Bishop was very
seldom in the Principality, and had no real influence
with his subjects. He had, he told the French
Government, made friends with the most important
men in the city, and was in a position to render
great services to France, provided he was furnished
with proper credentials. The result was that he
received a commission as French resident, or envoy,
at Li^ge. He then paid attentions to La Ruelle
and his party, for the purpose of persuading them
to further the interests of France and break with
Germany, and played his part so well that the
Chiroux leaders, becoming alarmed, sent a message

11

82 LIEGE AND THE ARDENNES

to the Bishop, advising him to be on his guard
against the intrigues of the French envoy and the
Grignoux.

Ferdinand, on receiving this warning, despatched
Count Louis of Nassau to Lidge with a letter to
the magistrates, in which he reprimanded them
severely, and accused them of a treasonable corre-
spondence with France. La RueUe answered in
acrimonious terms, declaring that the country was
being ruined by German soldiers sent there by the
Bishop. To this Ferdinand replied that, as the
Liegeois would not do their duty as loyal subjects
willingly, he would find means to compel them;
and presently an army of Imperial troops marched
into the Principality, and encamped near Li^ge.

And now a new actor comes upon the scene.
The Count of Warfiisde, who had been employed
in turn by Spain and HoUand, and betrayed them
both, was at this time living in banishment at
Lidge. Posing as an adherent of the French side,
he secured the confidence of La RueUe and the
Abbe de Mouzon, for both of whom he professed
a warm friendship ; but, in reality, he was in corre-
spondence with the Court at Brussels, and had
promised that, if a few soldiers were placed at his
disposal, he would crush the French party in Lidge.

THE TRAGIC BANQUET OF WARFUS]&E 83

On April 17, 1637, he gave a dinner-party, to
which La Ruelle, Abbe de Mouzon, and other
guests were invited. When La Ruelle arrived,
accompanied by a young manservant named Jaspar,
Warfusee gave him a jovial greeting. Then,
noticing Jaspar, he exclaimed, ' Ah ! there's my
good friend ; I know him well,' and showed the
way to the kitchen, saying : ' You must enjoy
yourself to-day, and drink to the health of Burgo-
master La Ruelle.'

The company sat down to dinner in a room
on the ground floor, the windows of which had
iron bars across them, and opened on a courtyard
in the middle of the building. Count Warfusee
sat next the door, with M. Marchand, an advocate,
beside him. La Ruelle and the Abbe were on the
other side of the table. Baron de Saizan, a French-
man, and several other gentlemen were present,
and also some ladies, among whom were the
Baroness de Saizan and Count Warfusee's four
daughters. Every one was in the highest spirits.
The Count declared he felt so happy that he
intended to get drunk, and invited aU the rest
to follow his example. Calling for big glasses,
he challenged de Mouzon to a revel. The Abbd
proposed the health of the Most Christian King ;

11—2

84 LIJ^GE AND THE ARDENNES

and this toast was duly drunk, the gentlemen
rising, and uncovering their heads.

During the first course the merriment of the
party increased ; but suddenly the Count's manner
changed, and one of the company was bantering
him about his gravity, when, as the servants were
bringing in the second course, his valet de chambre
came and whispered in his ear. Warfus^e nodded,
and immediately twenty soldiers, each holding a
drawn sword in one hand and a firelock in the
other, entered the room, bowed, and surrounded
the table. The guests supposed that this was some
pleasantry devised for their amusement ; and La
RueUe asked his host what it meant. ' Nothing,'
answered Warfusee — 'do not move ;' but as he
spoke a band of Spaniards appeared at the windows,
and levelled their muskets through the bars. War-
fiis^e, pointing to Jaspar, who was waiting on his
master, ordered the soldiers to remove him. He
was seized and turned out of the room. The
Count then shouted, ' Arrest the burgomaster !'

' What ? Arrest me ?' exclaimed La RueUe,
rising and throwing his napkin on the table.

' Yes, you,' replied Warfusde, ' and Abbd de
Mouzon, and Baron de Saizan also.'

The soldiers took La Ruelle, and dragged him

THE TRAGIC BANQUET OF WARFUSl^E 85

out ; and Warfiis^e, shouting at the top of his
voice, declared that he was acting under the orders
of the Emperor, and of His Royal Highness the
Bishop. They had, he said, borne long enough
with the intrigues of the French, and the authority
of the Prince must be re-established. A scene of the
wildest confusion followed. Warfusee rushed into
the courtyard, and loaded La RueUe with insults.
' Ropes, ropes for the burgomaster !' he shouted.
' Ah ! you traitor ! your heart is in my hands to-
day. See, here are the orders of the Prince ' ; and
he puUed some papers out of his pocket. ' Make
your peace with God, for you must die.' Jaspar,
the servant, who was standing near, already bound,
is said to have exclaimed, when he heard these
words, ' Oh, master, have I not always said what
would happen ?'

All in vain La Ruelle begged for mercy. Two
Dominicans, sent for to shrive the victim, implored
the Count to pause ; but ' Kill him, kill him ! Make
haste. Lose no more time,' was his answer to their
entreaties, and to those of his own daughters, who
besought him, with tears, to spare the unfortunate
man's life. Some of the soldiers refused to touch
the burgomaster, and told Warfusee to his face
that they were not assassins. But at last three

86 LI]6gE and the ARDENNES

Spaniards drew their daggers, and stabbed La
Ruelle repeatedly till he was dead.

His cries were heard in the room where De
Mouzon, fearing that his own last hour had come,
was waiting with the other guests under guard of
the soldiers. The Dominicans entered ; and aU
were crowding round them, pouring out confessions
and clamouring for absolution, when Warfus^e
came to the door, and told them that the burgo-
master was dead, and that he had died repenting
of his misdeeds, and seeking forgiveness from God,
the Emperor, and the Bishop. Having said this,
he went away again.

In the meantime a report had spread through
the town that something unusual was happening.
It was said that a band of Spanish soldiers had
been seen to cross the Meuse, and go to the Count
of Warfus^e's house, where the burgomaster was
known to be dining that day ; and every one sus-
pected that they had been sent to arrest La Ruelle,
De Mouzon, Warfusee, and their friends. So a
cousin of the burgomaster's went to find out if this
was the case. When he reached the door of the
house he found a crowd of people, who told him
they had heard cries from within and the clash. of
arms, and that there was a rumour that the burgo-

LA VIEILLE BOUCHERIE, LIEGE

THE TRAGIC BANQUET OF WARFUS^E 87

master had been murdered. On hearing this, he
knocked at the door, which was opened by the
Count, who let him enter with a few of his friends.

' Tell me, gentlemen,' said Warfiisee, ' do you
wish to be Spanish, or French, or Dutch V

' No,' they replied, ' we wish to remain what we
are — neutrals and true Lidgeois.'

' What would you think,' the Count asked them,
' if you heard that La RueUe has sold your country
to France ?'

' We would not believe it,' they all replied.

' Do you know his signature ?' Warfus^e inquired,
showing them some documents.

' These are forgeries,' they told him.

' No matter !' exclaimed the Count ; ' I had orders
to kill La Ruelle. He is already dead, and I hold
Abb^ de Mouzon and Baron de Saizan prisoners.
Would you like to see La Ruelle's body ?'

To this they replied ' No,' and asked permission
to leave the house.

By this time the news of the burgomaster's death
was known in the town, and a vast crowd had
gathered in front of the house, shouting ' To
arms !' and demanding admission. The Count
ventured to open the door, and allow the burgo-
master's cousin and his friends to escape. The

88 LI]^GE AND THE ARDENNES

noise increased, as the people knocked loudly at
the door, and uttered threats of vengeance upon
the Count. Warfus^e, now trembling in every
limb, pale and terror-stricken, ran hither and
thither between the courtyard and the garden,
and at last hid himself in a room on the upper
story, just as an armed crowd of townsmen burst
in, and forced their way to where the soldiers were
guarding Abbd de Mouzon and the other prisoners.
Baron de Saizan at once called on the Spaniards to
give up their weapons, and promised them quarter.
They allowed themselves to be disarmed ; but the
townsmen instantly attacked them. There was
a short, but desperate, struggle, during which the
ladies, cowering on the floor, protected themselves
as best they could from the musket-balls which
flew about, and the sword-cuts which the infuriated
townsmen dealt in all directions. In a few minutes
the Spaniards were slain to the last man ; and then
some of the burghers, moved by pity, led the
daughters of Warfus^e from the blood-stained
house to the H6tel de Ville, where they obtained
shelter.

Their father at this time was lying on a bed
upstairs, where he was soon discovered by La
Ruelle's cousin, who had returned, and some of the

THE TRAGIC BANQUET OF WARFUSlilE 89

burghers, who dragged him down to the door of
the house and threw him out into the street. The
mob rushed upon him, stabbed him, and beat him
to death with bludgeons, tore off his clothes, pulled
him by the feet to the market-place, hung him
head downwards on the gallows, and finally tore
the dead body to pieces. A fire was lighted, his
remains were burned, and the ashes thrown into
the Meuse.

Even this revenge did not quench the thirst
for blood which consumed the people of Lidge.
The advocate Marchand, who had been one of
Warfusde's guests, and another eminent citizen,
Theodore Fl^ron, fell under suspicion, and were
slaughtered. It is said that one of those who slew
Fldron was so mad with rage that he flung himself
on the dead man's corpse, tore it with his teeth
like a wild beast, and sucked the blood. The
church of the Carmelites, who were also suspected
of some guilty knowledge of Warfus^e's plot, was
sacked. The Rector of the Jesuits was murdered,
and the members of that society were driven from
the town. The mob went through the streets
shouting, ' Death to the Chiroux ! Death to the
priests !' A list was drawn up of suspected persons,
who were condemned, without trial, on a charge

12

90 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

of having conspired against the State ; and many
of the Chiroux faction were hung on the gallows.

Such is the horrible story of the ' Tragic Banquet
of Warfusde,' as it is called in local history. The
motive for the crime, as foolish as it was brutal,
was obviously the -wdsh of Warfus^e to gain, at
any cost, some credit with the Emperor, though
there seems to be no proof that either the Emperor
or Ferdinand had really authorized the murder
of the burgomaster. Nor is there evidence to
show that La Ruelle had plotted to hand over
the Principality to France. The only explanation
of Warfusee's extraordinary folly seems to be that
he had entirely misunderstood the sentiments of
the Li^geois, and had under-estimated the popu-
larity of La Ruelle and the strength of the Grignoux
faction. Otherwise, desperate villain though he
was, he would scarcely have ventured to commit
such a crime with no support save that of a few
oldiers.

A semblance of peace followed ; but soon the
feud between the Chiroux and the Grignoux broke
out again. Once more the Grignoux obtained the
upper hand. The Episcopal Palace was taken by
the mob. Two hundred citizens of the upper class
were ordered into banishment ; and when the

I'HK EPISCOPAL PALACE— INNER COURT,
LIEGE

THE TRAGIC BANQUET OF WARFUSl^E 91

Bishop was on his way to Li^ge, hoping to restore
order by peaceful means, he was met by the news
that the gates were closed against him. He there-
fore sent his nephew, Prince Henry Maximilian
of Bavaria, with an army to reduce the town. In
a skirmish near Jupille one of the burgomasters
was killed. The Grignoux lost heart, and opened
the gates. Then came a wholesale arrest of the
popular leaders, four of whom were executed. The
mode of electing magistrates was altered, the
Bishop reserving to himself the right of nominating
half of them. The loyalists who had been banished
were recalled. To overawe the people, a citadel
was built upon the high ridge above the town ;
and when Ferdinand died, in 1650, the Principality
was more at rest than it had been for many years.

12—2

THE GAMING-TABLES AT SPA—
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION— ANNEXA-
TION OF THE PRINCIPALITY

CHAPTER VII

THE GAMING-TABLES AT SPA — THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION — ANNEXATION OF THE PRINCIPALITY

Already two Princes of Bavaria had been Bishops
of Li^ge, and now a third succeeded. Prince
Maximilian Henry, who filled this uneasy throne
from 1650 to 1688.

During most of that time the armies of almost
every nation in Europe swept like a flood over the
Principahty ; but the most important transaction
of Maximilian's reign was the estabhshment of a
new system for the election of magistrates. This
system, which came into force in November, 1684,
and was known as the ' R^glement de Maximilien
de Baviere,' deprived the lower classes of that direct
power of election which they had so long abused,
and divided it between the Bishops and the middle
class. The result of this measure was that there
was quiet, if not harmony, within the walls of Li^ge
for the next hundred years. During that period,

95

96 LIJ^GE AND THE ARDENNES

from 1684 to 1784, the valley of the Meuse was
frequently the seat of war in the various campaigns
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

More tranquil times came with the Peace of Aix-
la-Chapelle, in 1748, when the Austrian Nether-
lands were restored to the Empress Maria Theresa.
It was, indeed, only a calm between two storms.
But for some years the arts of peace flourished in
the valley of the Meuse ; and side by side with a
remarkable progress of industry and commerce the
intellectual activity of the people increased. An
association, called the ' Soci^t^ d'Emulation,' was
formed, chiefly for the study of French literature ;
and soon the works of Voltaire, of Diderot, and of
d'Alembert were read by all classes. The clergy
tried to forbid the purchase of such books, but in
vain. Amongst the working class the favourite
authors were those who attacked the clergy ; and
the writings of Voltaire became so popular that
secret meetings were held in many of the country
villages for the purpose of hearing them read aloud.
Thus, beneath the surface, the spirit of inquiry and
free thought was fostered. Already in France the
first murmurs of the coming storm were heard ; and
in Li^ge people began to speak about the ' rights of
man,' to question the dogmas of the Church, and to

THE GAMING-TABLES AT SPA 97

ridicule the priests at whose feet their forefathers
had knelt for so many hundred years.

While these new forces were gathering strength,
C^sar de Hoensbroeck, one of the Canons of
St. Lambert, became Bishop, on July 21, 1784. A
trifling dispute with which his reign began was the
prelude to very serious events. For many years a
company called the ' Soci^t^ Deleau ' had enjoyed
a monopoly of the gaming-tables at Spa, under a
grant from the Bishops of Li^ge, to whom a third
of the profits were paid. In 1785 one Levoz, a
citizen of Li^ge, opened a new gambling-house,
which he called the ' Club.' The Soci^t^ Deleau
protested against this infringement of its monopoly.
Levoz and his friends replied that by law the Bishops
had no right to grant a monopoly without the
sanction of the estates ; and at last the case was
laid before the Imperial Chamber of the German
Empire.

This petty quarrel, so trivial in its origin, had run
its course for more than two years, when suddenly
it was raised into a grave controversy by one of the
partisans of Levoz, Nicolas Bassenge, who published
a series of letters in which he declared that the
liberties of the country were at stake. ' It is not,'
he said, ' a mere question about a game of hazard.'

13

98 LII^GE AND THE ARDENNES

Which is to be supreme, he asked, the Prince or the
people ? Who has the right to make laws or grant
monopolies ? The chief of the State is not its
master, but merely the instrument of the national
wiU. Others followed Bassenge in the same strain ;
and more letters, fresh recriminations, hot words
and angry answers, added fuel to the fire.

Levoz, tired of waiting for a decision from the
Imperial Chamber, leased his Club to a manager,
Paul Redoute, who opened it with dancing added
to the attractions of dice and cards. The Bishop
sent 200 soldiers to Spa, who closed the Club tables,
and forbade all gaming except in the rooms to
which he had granted the monopoly. A warrant
was issued for the arrest of Redouts and M.
Ransonnet, who had fought in the American War
of Independence, and was now a leader among the
disaffected party in Li^ge. The latter fled to
Brussels, where the Brabant revolution against
Joseph II. was approaching its climax, and sent
letters to Li4ge, in which he said that a plan
was on foot to establish a repubhc consisting of
Brabant and the Principality of Li^ge. Would it
not, he asked, be a glorious work to confine the
Bishops to their Apostolic mission, as in the days of
St. Hubert ? Words like these made a deep im-

PONT DU PROPHETE, PROMENADE
MEYERBEER, SPA WOODS

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 99

pression at a time when the old influences of tradi-
tion and custom were beginning to lose their force.

In the spring and summer of 1789 there was
much suffering among the poor, owing to a bad
season ; and the Bishop arranged to celebrate
July 21, the anniversary of his election, by a distribu-
tion of bread among the destitute. But before
July 21 came, horsemen had galloped up the Valley
of the Meuse with tidings of the wonderful things
which had been done in France. ' Workers of
iniquity,' Bassenge wrote, ' behold Paris, and
tremble !'

The Bastille had fallen on July 14, and a
month later almost to a day, on August 16, the
revolution in Lidge began. For two days the
people did nothing but march about the streets ;
but very early on the morning of Tuesday the 18th
the tocsin was sounding over the town, and soon
the market-place was filled by an immense crowd,
all wearing cockades of red and yellow, the national
colours. Baron de Chestret marched at the head
of 200 armed men into the Hotel de Ville, and
expelled the burgomasters. This was followed
by the election, at the famous Perron, of new
burgomasters, one of them being Baron de Chestret,
who, later in the day, went with a number of the

13—2

100 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

insurgents to the Bishop's palace at Seraing, and
demanded his presence in the city, and his written
approval of what had been done. The Bishop,
adorned with a red and yellow cockade, was hurried
to Li^ge by the mob, who crowded round his
carriage, shouting, blowing trumpets, and beating
drums. The horses were taken out, and the rioters
drew him to the H6tel de Ville, and brought him
into a room where the light of a single candle
showed a number of men waiting for him sword in
hand. A threatening voice came from the darkness,
saying, ' The nation demands your signature. Make
hastel' and the Bishop forthwith signed a number of
documents which were placed before him, without
waiting to read the contents. On the morrow he
returned to Seraing ; but a few days later he
departed secretly for Treves.

For nearly two years the Imperial Chamber was
occupied with the question of Lidge ; but at last,
when the revolution in Brabant had been suppressed,
an Austrian army entered the Principahty. Every-
thing which the revolutionary party had done since
August 18, 1789, was declared null and void. The
burgomasters who had been expelled were restored
to office. Those Canons of St. Lambert who had
fled were brought back, and the Bishop himself

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 101

returned. The Societe d'Emulation, which had
done so much to encourage the study of Voltau'e,
was suppressed. Sentences of banishment, and even
of death, were pronounced against some of those
who had led the revolt ; and there can be little doubt
that Bishop Hoensbroeck earned the title of ' pretre
sanguinaire,' which was given him at the Courts of
Berlin and Vienna. He died in June, 1792 ; and in
August of that year his nephew, the Comte de
M^an, was elected by the Chapter. But before the
new Bishop's inauguration the army of the French
Republic, fresh from its victory at Jemappes, having
driven the Austrians beyond the Meuse, took
possession of Lidge. This was on November 28,
1792.

Dumouriez, who had entered Brussels without
opposition, received a hearty welcome at Liege,
where the popular sentiment was in favour of an
union with France ; and in every part of the
Principality resolutions were passed for incor-
porating the country with the Republic. It is said
that, shortly before August 18, 1789, Mirabeau
dined at Liege with Bassenge and some of the
revolutionary leaders, when the conversation turned
on the affair of Spa. The constitution of Liege

102 LI^GE AND THE ARDENNES

was explained to him. 'And you are not con-
tented with that V he said. ' Gentlemen, let me
tell you that if in France we had enjoyed half your
privileges, we would have thought ourselves happy.'
But there had always been a charm in the word
' Republic ' for the people of Li^ge. ' Men of
Li^ge,' said Nicolas Bassenge, when the National
Convention at Paris decreed the annexation of
the Netherlands, ' our lot is fixed : we are French.
To live or die Frenchmen is the wish of our hearts,
and no wish was ever so pure, so earnest, or so
unanimous.'

Thomas Bassenge, brother of Nicolas, was at this
time a member of the Municipal Council of Lidge ;
and in February, 1793, he persuaded the magis-
strates to celebrate the revolution by destroying
the Cathedral of St. Lambert, which stood near
the Episcopal Palace of Erard de la Marck. The
front of this church, the finest ecclesiastical building
in the Principality, was a mass of elaborate carving.
Statues of angels and archangels, of patriarchs and
prophets, of martjrrs and of saints, rose one above
the other, and over them innumerable pinnacles
were interlaced by a maze of slender arches, crossing
each other with tracery so delicate as almost to
resemble lace. Beneath this profusion of stone-

ANNEXATION OF THE PRINCIPALITY 103

work the great doorway was adorned with marble
statues of the benefactors of the church from the
chisel of Lambert Zoutman, a sculptor of Li^ge ;
and in the interior of the building, with its marble
columns and windows of old stained glass, were many
paintings, the tombs of the Bishops, rich tapestries,
a jewelled bust of Lambert, and many objects of
value, amongst which were two golden statues sent
by Charles the Bold to the shrine of the patron
saint, as an act of expiation after he had destroyed
the town. This buUding, which had survived the
great disaster of the fifteenth century, was now
completely wrecked. The statues and the monu-
ments were cast down. The mausoleum of Erard
de la Marck was sold and broken up. The graves
were opened, the bones thrown out, and the lead
of the coffins used for bullets. The clocks were
sent up the Meuse in barges to France, and there
turned into copper money. Everything valuable
was removed, and soon nothing remained but the
bare walls, which in a few years crumbled into
ruins. Thus the long line of the Bishop-Princes of
Li^ge, and the place in which for centuries they
had been inaugurated, fell together.

LIEGE AND THE VALLEY OF THE
MEUSE IN MODERN TIMES-
BOUILLON

14

CHAPTER VIII

LIEGE AND THE VALLEY OF THE MEUSE IN
MODERN TIMES — BOUILLON

The territory which the Bishops had governed was
now merged in four of the nine departments into
which the National Convention divided the annexed
Austrian Netherlands. The department of ' For^ts,'
with Luxembourg for its capital, included the
Ardennes. The western portion of the old diocese
was sunk in ' Sambre et Meuse,' of which Namur
was the chief town. ' Ourthe ' was the name given
to the district in which Liege was situated. To
the east lay the department of ' Meuse Inferieure,'
with Maestricht for its capital. Thus the old
boundaries of the Principality were entirely
obliterated. The Convention conferred the rights
of French citizens on the people of these districts,
and commissioners were sent from Paris to divide
the country into cantons, and estabhsh a new
system of local administration on the French model.
The departments of For§ts, Sambre et Meuse,

107 14—2

108 li:6ge and the ardennes

Ourthe, and Meuse Infi^rieure were in the same
condition as the rest of Belgium during the closing
years of the eighteenth century and down to the
fall of Napoleon. After that they formed part of
the 'Kingdom of the Netherlands,' under the
House of Orange-Nassau, and were called the
provinces of Luxembourg, Namur, Liege, and
Limbourg.

When the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the
chief constructive work accomplished by the Con-
gress of Vienna, fell to pieces in 1830, the Li^geois
went with the rest of Belgium in the revolution
against William I. As soon as they heard of the
insurrection at Brussels, the townsmen of Li^ge
met, as of old, in the market-place, put on the
national colours, and helped themselves to weapons
from the armourers' shops. A company of 300
volunteers, with two pieces of cannon, marched
across Brabant into Brussels, and took a prominent
part in the street fighting, which ended in the
retreat of the Dutch troops, and the triumph
of the revolution which led to the separation of the
Cathohc Netherlands from Holland, and the elec-
tion of Leopold I. as King of Belgium.

Long ago, in the days of Prince MaximiUan of
Bavaria, a fortress was built on the only bridge

PONT DE ]AMBES ET CITADELLE, NAMUR

LIl&GE AND THE VALLEY OF THE MEUSE 109

which at that time crossed the Meuse at Li^ge,
This fortress, armed with camion which could
sweep both sides of the river, left only one narrow
waterway, nicknamed ' The Dardanelles,' by which
boats could pass up and down the stream. It has
long since disappeared, and the present Pont des
Arches now occupies the sight of the old bridge.
The irregular outline of the houses on the bank of
the Meuse, with their fronts of grey, white, and
red, the church towers appearing over the roofs of
the town behind, and the ridge of the citadel rising
high in the background, are best seen from the
Pont des Arches, from which the modern Rue
Leopold leads straight into the very heart of Li^ge,
to the place on which the Cathedral of St. Lambert
stood. It is just a century since the last stones of
the old church were carted away ; and now the
Place St. Lambert, like the Place Verte, which
opens on it from the west, and the market-place,
which is a few yards to the east, has a bright look
of business and prosperity, with its shops and cafds.
The Episcopal Palace, now the Palais de Justice,
the erection of which took thirty years during the
commencement of the sixteenth century, has under-
gone many alterations since the days of Erard de
la Marck. Two hundred years after it was finished

no LI6gE and the ARDENNES

a fire destroyed the original front, which had to be
rebuilt, and the rest of the vast structure was
restored in the nineteenth century. The primitive
facade has been replaced by one moulded on
severely classic lines ; but the inner squares, with
their picturesque cloisters, are strangely rich in
types of every style, a medley of Gothic, Renais-
sance, Moorish, as if symbolic of the vicissitudes
undergone by the Bishop -Princes who inhabited
this immense building. Most of the grotesque
carvings, the demons in stone, and the fantastic
figures which surround these courts, were con-
ceived by the luxuriant imagination of Francis
Borset, a sculptor of Li^ge.

Close to the Episcopal Palace is the market-
place, where so many of the scenes described
in these pages took place, and where now stands
the modern Perron, designed by Delcour at the
end of the seventeenth century to replace the old
column, at the foot of which the laws of the
Principality, peace, or war used to be proclaimed.
There is nothing about it to recall the history of
the stormy times when Charles the Bold carried it
oif into Flanders ; but the tradition of the ancient
Perron stiU survives.

At Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Louvain, the Hotels

LIJ^GE AND THE VALLEY OF THE MEUSE 111

de Ville retain their aspect of the Middle Ages,
when they were the centres of that passionate civic
hfe which throbs through all the history of the
Netherlands. But the Hotel de Ville of Lidge is
modern, of the eighteenth century. It would make
a commodious private mansion, but has nothing in
common with the architectural gems which adorn
the great cities of Flanders and Brabant.

This lack of architectural distinction is charac-
teristic of modern Li^ge. The hammers of the
French Revolution, in destroying the Cathedral
of St. Lambert, completed what the fires of Charles
the Bold began, and of the really old Li^ge almost
nothing remains. But the fiery spirit which once
led to so many wars and revolutions now finds an
outlet in useful work. The industrious character
of the Walloons is perhaps most highly developed
in other Walloon parts of Belgium — among the
carpet factories of Tournai, the iron-works of
Charleroi, the flax-works of Courtrai, and in the
coal-mines of the Borinage, which blacken the
landscape for miles round Mons. But the people
of Lidge have always been famous for their skill in
working steel and iron. In the old days they
forged the weapons of war which they used so
often ; and at the present time there are in the

112 LIl^GE AND THE ARDENNES

town many flourishing companies who turn out
large quantities of guns, engines, and machinery,
while up the Meuse there are coal-mines, furnaces,
and factories, where the Walloons toil as labori-
ously as in Hainaut.

In the year after Waterloo WiUiam I. and John
Cockerill, an Englishman, estabhshed iron-works at
Seraing, within a few miles of Li^ge. In 1830, when
the Kingdom of the Netherlands was broken up,
CockeriU became owner of the business, which has
grown since then, until it is now one of the largest
iron manufactories in Europe, with some twelve
thousand workmen constantly employed in its coal-
mines and engine-works. The Palace at Seraing,
from which Bishop Hoensbroeck was carried by the
revolutionary mob to the Hdtel de Ville at Lidge
in the summer of 1789, is now the office of the
well-known firm of John Cockerill and Com-
pany.

Beyond Seraing the Valley of the Meuse winds
up through the centre of what was once the
Principahty of Li^ge, and at every turn there is
something which recalls the olden time. The
white Chateau of Aigremont, where the Wild
Boar of Ardennes used to live, stands boldly on
its hilltop on the left bank of the river. A Uttle

CHATEAU DE BOUILLON, IN THE SEMOIS
VALLEY

LI^GE AND THE VALLEY OF THE MEUSE 113

farther, and we come to the Condroz country,
with its capital Ciney, notorious for the insane
' War of the Cow,' and Huy, with the grave of
Peter the Hermit, and its long history of suflFering,
The whole valley is so peaceful now, full of quiet
villages, gardens, hay-fields, and well -cultivated
land, that it is difficult to realize that for centuries
it was nothing but a battlefield, and that in
these regions the people suffered almost as much
from the depredations of their friends as from the
enemy, even long after the barbarism of the
Burgundian period was a thing of the past, ' We
have,' says Field-Marshal de Merode, during the
campaigns of Louis XIV., 'eighteen miserable
regiments of infantry, and fourteen of cavalry and
dragoons, who are just six thousand beggars or
thieves, for they have neither money nor clothing,
and live by plunder on the highways, stopping
public and private coaches, robbing travellers, or,
pistol in hand, demanding at least a pour boire.
Nobody can go from one place to another without
meeting them, which ruins business and the whole
country.'

The situation of Namur, at the junction of the
Sambre and the Meuse, made it a place of great
importance in every war, not only in the Middle

15

114. LIJilGE AND THE ARDENNES

Ages, but also in later times. When the Grand
Alliance was formed against France, it was in
Brabant that the main body of the Allies gathered ;
but before long the tide of war rolled into the
Valley of the Meuse.» Li^ge was bombarded for
five days by Marshal Boufflers, and the Bishop,
from his place of refuge in the citadel, saw the
H6tel de Ville and half the town set on fire by the
shells which flew over the river from the French
batteries on the Chartreuse. As the struggle went
on, Huy was destroyed by Marshal Villeroi, Namur
fell into the hands of Louis XIV., and farther
afield it seemed as if no city, however strong, could
stand a siege against the genius of Vauban, while
the victories at Steinkirk and Landen made the
arms of France appear invincible. But at last, in
1695, came the siege and capture of Namur by
WiUiam III. The taking of Namur was the turn-
ing-point of that war, and led to the Treaty of
Ryswick, by which Spain recovered Luxembourg,
and all the conquests which the King of France
had made in the Netherlands.

Again, when the War of the Spanish Succession
began, the English army, on its way to Germany,
marched into the Principality of Lidge, took the
town and citadel of Li^ge, drove the French over

Li:^GE AND THE VALLEY OF THE MEUSE 115

the Meuse, and carried the war to Blenheim on the
Danube. But though the first of Marlborough's
chief victories was thus gained in Bavaria, the
second of his four great battles was fought to obtain
command of the way to Namur. Marshal Villeroi's
object in giving battle at RamUlies was to protect
that town, which he regarded as the key to the
Valley of the Meuse ; but fortune had deserted
France, and the combat of May 23, 1706, decided
the fate not only of the Principality of Li^ge, but
of all Belgium, though the war continued, through
the carnage of Oudenarde and Malplaquet, till the
Peace of Utrecht.

Even now the shadow of a possible war over-
hangs this part of Europe ; and if those who think
that, sooner or later, the neutrality of Belgium wUl
be violated are right, it is very likely that the line
of the Meuse, with its navigable stream, its railway,
and its roads, so well adapted for military purposes,
wiU be used. It is in view of this danger that the
fortifications along the valley are maintained.
Within a radius of six miles round Lidge there are
twelve forts. The citadel of Huy, planned by
William I. soon after the campaign of Waterloo,
was enlarged and made stronger so lately as 1892.
Namur is surrounded by nine forts at a distance of

15—2

1J6 li:6ge and the ardennes

about six miles from the town ; and the citadel of
Dinant forms an outpost to the south-west.

The last occasion on which any part of Belgium,
so long the ' Cockpit of Europe,' had a glimpse of
war was in the autumn of 1870. The battle of
Sedan had been fought within a few miles from^ the
southern slopes of the Ardennes, and during
September 3 thousands of wounded men and
prisoners from the beaten army were crowded in
BouUlon, a little town which lies in the gorge of the
Semois, just over the Belgian frontier.

This place was once the capital of a Duchy. On
a lofty rock, almost surrounded by the dark, brown
waters of the many- winding Semois, stands the
ruined castle of the Dukes of Bouillon, a large pile
of grey walls and towers, which gives some idea of
the immense strength of the fortresses which, even
in the remote forest-land of Ardennes, the feudal
lords built for themselves. The age of this strong-
hold is unknown, but there seems reason to beheve
that a fort was erected on this rock by the Princes
of Ardennes so early as the seventh century. In
the eleventh century it was ceded to the Princi-
pality of Lidge by the famous Crusader Godfrey of
Bouillon ; but this part of the Ardennes, on the
borders of France and Luxembourg, was a kind of

BOUILLON 117

' Debatable Land,' and there were frequent
struggles for the Duchy between the Bishops of
Liege and the family of de la Marck. The Wild
Boar of Ardennes obtained possession of it, and his
son usurped the title of Duke of Bouillon ; but one
of his descendants having incurred the wrath of
Charles V., the castle was taken, the town sacked,
and the Duchy restored to the Bishops of Li^ge.
They retained it till it fell into the hands of
Louis XIV., by whom it was given to the family of
La Tour d'Auvergne, the representatives of the
de la Marcks. It became a small RepubUc after
the French Revolution, but was included in the
Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1815 to 1830.
Since then it has formed part of Belgian Luxem-
bourg.

BouiUon, with its mountains and woods, and its
romantic ruin, being one of the loveliest spots in
the Ardennes, soon became a favourite place for
holiday-makers, and had for many years a peaceful
existence before the storm burst so near it in that
eventful year 1870. ' I was there,' M. Camille
Lemonnier says, ' in the midst of the debdcle, and,'
sick at heart, and in the horror of those days, wrote
these words: "A fiirious coming and going filled
the streets. We found the Place crowded with

118 LIJ^GE AND THE ARDENNES

townspeople, peasants, lancers, prisoners, and
wounded men struggling among the horses' hoofs,
the wheels of wagons, and the feet of the stretcher-
bearers. A horrible noise rose in the darkness of
the evening from this tumultuous crowd, who
moved aimlessly about, with staring eyes, lost in
agony, and scarcely knowing what they did. A
stupor seemed to weigh on every brain ; and all
round, looking down on the seething mass, lights
twinkled in the windows of the houses. Behind the
white blinds of one house, the H6tel de la Poste, at
the corner to the left of the bridge, a restless shadow
moved about all night long. It was the shadow of
the last Bonaparte, watching, and a prisoner, while
near him the frantic cries wrung by defeat from the
wreckage of the French army died away in sobs and
spasms." '

Next morning Napoleon III., who had spent the
night in the Hotel de la Poste, left with a guard of
Prussian officers, climbed up the road, through the
woods which lie between the valleys of the Semois
and the Lesse, to Libramont, whence he journeyed
by train to Wilhelmshoe.

Since then Bouillon has returned to the quiet
times which preceded the Franco-German War;
but that student of history must have a very dull

BOUILLON 119

imagination who does not find much to thiak of in
this narrow valley, on the frontiers of Belgium and
France, where the past and the present meet, the
day when Duke Godfrey rode off to plant his
standard on the walls of Jerusalem, and the day
when his castle looked down on the humiliation of
the ruler who began his reign by making war about
the Holy Places of Palestine.

INDEX

Abb^ de Mouzon, 81, 82, 83, 84
Aigremont, Castle of, 51, 112
Aix - la - Chapelle, churches of,

enriched, 16 ; Peace of, 96
Albert, Archduke, 74, 76
Albert de Cuyck made Bishop of

Li^ge, 21 ; grants a charter to

Li^ge, 22, 23, 30, 31
Albert de Louvain, 21
Alpaide, 13
Alva, 67
Anseremme, 4
Aquitaine, Dnke of, 12
Ardennes, state of, in the feudal

period, 17, 18
Arenberg, family of, 60, 63
Arlon, 3
Austrian Netherlands restored to

the Empress Maria Theresa, 96 ;

annexed to France, 107

Bassenge, Nicolas, 97, 99, 101, 102
Bassenge, Thomas, 102
Bastille, fall of, in 1789, 99
Beaufort, Jean de, 24
Beeckmann, William, 79, 80
Blenheim, 116
Borset, IVancis, 110
Bouillon, 19, 20, 116, 117, 118
Brabant, Duke of, supports Simon

de Limbourg, 21 ; joins in the

War of the Cow, 24, 25 ; Joy-

euse Entree of, 23 ; revolution

of, 98, 100
Brederode, 67
Bruges, tournament at, 40 ;

Charles the Bold buried at, 46
Burgundy, House of, in the

fifteenth century, 30 ; hated by

the Li^geois, 31

Camolet, Jean, 66

Carmelites, Church of, at Liege,

sacked, 89
Catholics unpopular at Li^ge, 74
Charlemagne, 13

Charles the Bold destroys Dinant,
35 ; becomes Duke of Burgundy,
36 ; enters lA&ge and issues a
decree, 36, 37 ; marries Margaret
of York, 40 ; imprisons Louis XI.
at Peronne, 40 ; marches with
Louis XI. to Li6g& and destroys
the town, 41, 42, 43 ; his death,
45 ; burial at Nancy, 45 ; final
burial at Bruges, 46
Charles V. is chosen Emperor, 64 ;

takes BouiUon, 117
Charter of Albert de Cuyck, 30, 31
Chartreuse (at Li^ge), 62
Chaudfontaine, 14
Chestret, Baron de, 99
Chevremont, 14

Chiroux and Grignoux factions, 80
Ciney, 24, 25, 29, 113
Citadel of Liege built, 91 ; taken

by the English, 114
Clermont, Count of, 20
Cockerill and Co., 112
Colonna, Jean Baptiste, 45
Comte de Charolais (Charles the

Bold), 34
Condroz, 24, 113
Congress of Vienna, 108
Court of Peace, 19 et seq.
Cuyck, Albert de, 21, 22, 23, 30,
31

Damme, 40

Dardanelles (at Li^ge), 109

Diderot, 96

121

16

122

LIl^GE AND THE ARDENNES

Diet of Frankfort (1619), 64
Diet of Worms (1496), 69
Dinant, situation of, 4 ; people of,
invade Namur and Luxembourg,
26 ; declares war against Namur,
34 ; destroyed by Charles the
Bold, 35 ; citadel reVmilt, 66 ;
now part of fortifications on the
Meuse, 116
Damouriez welcomed at LiSge,
101

Erard de la Marck, 63 et seq.
Everard de la Marck, 58, 59
Ernest of Bavaria, 69 et seq.

Ferdinand of Bavaria, 76, 79
Flanders, Count of, opposes Simon

de Limbourg, 21 ; joins in the

War of the Cow, 26
Fl^ron, Theodore, 89
For^ts, Department of, 107
Franchimontj 51
Frankfort, Diet of (1619), 64
Frederic de Montigny, 56
Frederick III., 34
French literature studied at Liege,

96
French Revolution, 99
Freyr, 4

Gembloux, 17

Godfrey of BouUlon, 116, 118
Grand Alliance, 114
Grignoux and Chiroux factions, 80
Groisbeck, Gerard de, 67, 69
Guerre de la Vache de Ciney, 24,
25

Haccourt, 68

Hainaut, Counts of, vassals of

Li^ge, 17 ; Count of, opposes

Simon de Limbourg, 21
Halloy, Jean de, 24
Hastifere, 4, 67
HeinsbeMf, Jean de, 31
Henry 11., Emperor, grants a

charter to Li6ge, 16, 17
Henry IV., 21

Hoensbroeck, C^sar de, 97, 101
Huy, tournament at, 24; rebuilt.

66 ; taken by the Dutch, 74 ;
destroyed by Villeroi, 114 ;
citadel of, enlarged in 1892, 116

Immon of Chevremont, 14 et seq.
Imperial Chamber, 59, 97, 98, 100
Inquisition at Li^ge, 66
Installation of the Bishops of

Li^ge, 69
Isabelle de Bourbon, 49
' Ivanhoe,' 30

Jacques de Home, 56

Jacques de le Roy, 53

Jallet, 24

Jasper, La Ruelle's servant, 83,

84,86
Jean d'Arenberg, 53
Jean de Beaufort, 24
Jean de Home, 54, 63
Jean de Ville, 39, 40, 42
Jean Sans Pitie, 31
Jemappes, 101
Jesuits, Rector of, at LiSge,

murdered, 89
John of Bavaria, 31
Joseph II., 98
Juliers, Duke of, 71
Jupille, 12, 91

Kingdom of the Netherlands, 108

La Balue, Cardinal, 86

Landen, 114

La Roche, Count of, 20

La Ruelle, Burgomaster of Lidge,
79 ; is murdered, 86, 86

La Tour d'Auvergne, 117

Legia, the, 11

Lemonnier, M. Camille, 117

Leopold 1., 108

Leroz, 97, 98

Lesse, the, 4

Libramont, 118

Liege, boundaries of the princi-
pality, 3 ; early history, 11 ;
churches of, enriched by
plunder of Chfevremont, 16 ;
Court of Peace, 19 ; charter of
Albert de Cuyck, 20 et seq. ;
sympathy with ' France in the

INDEX

123

fifteenth century, 31 ; army of,
defeated at Montenac, 34 ; rules
imposed by Charles the Bold,
36 ; his oppressions, 37, 38 ;
destroyed, 42, 43, 44 ; recovery
of, 40 ; concessions granted by
Mary of Burgundy, 49, 60 ;
relations with Germany, 64 ;
episcopal palace built, 65 ;
objections to a Papal inquisi-
tion, 66 ; Spanish garrison at,
67 ; magistrates claim right to
hold the keys, 68 ; they usurp
the powers of the Bishop, 79 ;
Chiroux and Grignoux factions,
80 ; mob take the episcopal
palace, 90 ; a citadel built, 91 ;
state of, from 1660 to 1688, 95,
96 ; study of French literature,
96 ; revolution of 1789, 99 ;
taken by the French in 1792,
101 ; welcome to Dumouriez,
101 ; in favour of union with
French Republic, 101 ; Mira-
beau's visit, 101 ; Cathedral of
St. Lambert destroyed, 102,
103 ; revolution of 1830, 108 ;
Place Verte, 109 ; Place St.
Lambert, 109 ; Rue Leopold,
109; Pont des Arches, 109;
episcopal palace (Palais de
Justice), 109, 110 ; Hotel de
Ville, 111 ; steel and iron works,
111, 112; bombarded by Mar-
shal Boufflers, 114 ; taken by
the English, 114 ; modern
fortifications, 115

Limbourg, Simon de, 21

Louis de Bourbon becomes Bishop
of Li%e, 32, 33 ; lives at
Brussels, 88 ; is surprised at
Tongres by the Li^geois, 39 ;
obtains concessions in favour of
the town, 49 ; is murdered, 52

Louis XI. encourages the Li^geois
to revolt, 34 ; instigates Charles
the Bold against Li^ge, 44 ;
marches with him to Liege, 41 ;
employs William delaMarck, 60

Louis XIII., 81

Louis XIV. takes Bouillon, 117
Louis of Nassau, 82
Louvain, Albert de, 21
Luxembourg, Count of, joins in
the War of the Cow, 24, 25

Maestricht, Abbey of, laid waste,

14 ; siege of, 68
Malines, 16
Malmedy, 14
Malplaquet, 116
Marchand, M., 83, 89
Margaret of York, 40
Maria Theresa, Empress, 96
Marie of Burgundy, 46, 49
Mark of Baden, 34
Marlborough, 1]5
Martel, Cliarles, 12, 13
Maximilian, Archduke (afterwards

Emperor), 64, 67, 68, 64
Maximilian, Henry, Bishop of

Lidge, 95 et seq.
M6an, Comte de, 101
Merode, Field-Marshal de, 113
Menrs, William de, 74
Meuse Inf^rieure, 107
Mirabeau at Li^ge, 101, 102
Montherm^, 4

Namur, situation of, 4 ; taken by
Louis XIV., 114 ; by WilliamllL,
114 ; strategic importance of,
113, 114, 115; fortifications
round, 116

Nancy, Battle of, 45

Napoleon III. at Bouillon in 1870,
118

Notger, Bishop, 14 et seq.

Notre Dame, choir of, at Bruges,
46

Oth^e, Battle of, 31
Otho the Great, 14, 16
Oudenarde, 115
Ourthe, 107

Pacification of Ghent, 67

Palais de Justice at Li^ge, 65,

109, 110
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 96

124

LlilGE AND THE ARDENNES

Peace of Utrecht, 116

Pepin d'Herstal, 12, 13

Perron of Liege, S4, 37, 38, 60,
110

Peronne, Louis XL at, 40, 41

Pesche, Baron de, 81

Peter the Hermit, 113

Philip de Croy, Prince of Chimay,
71

Philip II., 67

Philip the Good, 31, 32

Philip the Hardy, 26

Pont des Arches, 109

Principality of Li6ge, houndaries,
3 ; state of, under Burgundy, 6 ;
relations with Giermany, 64 ;
during the sixteenth century,
66 ; refuses to join the United
Netherlands, 67 ; neutrality
proclaimed, 68; proposal for
union with Brabant, 98 ;
Austrian army enters, 100 ;
annexed to the French Re-
public, 101, 102; boundaries
obliterated, 107 ; included in
the kingdom of the Netherlands,
108

' Quarantaines,' 18

' Quentin Durward,' 30

Ramillies, 115

Ramsonnet, M., 98

Redout^, Paul, 98

R^lement de Maximilien de

Baviere, 96
Rene, Duke of Lorraine, 45
Rheims, 21
Ryswick, Treaty of, 114

St. Hubert, 12, 13; town and

abbey of, 13, 17, 67
St. Jean de I'Atre, 46
St. Lambert, 12; Cathedral of, 11,

102, 103, 109
St. Monulphe, 11
St. Sebastian, altar of, at Nancy,

46

St. Trond, 67

Saizan, Baron de, 83, 84, 88

Sambre et Meuse, 107

Scott, Sir Walter, 30

Sedan, 116

Semois, 3, 4, 116

Seraing, 100, 112

Simon de Limbourg, 21

Sluis, 40

Soci^t^ d'Emulation, 96, 101

Societe Deleau, 98

Spa, gaming-tables at, 97, 98

Stavelot, 14

Steinkirk, 114

'Tales of a Grandfather,' 30
Tongres, 16
Tournai, 66, 66, 111
Tours, Battle of, 13
Treaty of Ryswick, 114
Treve de Dieu, 19
Treves, 100

Tribunal de Paix, 19, 20, 23
Tricaria, Bishop of, 38
Truchses, Gerald, 78
Twelve Years' Truce, 75

Utrecht, Peace of, 115

Vauban, 114
Verdun, Henri de, 19
Voltiire, 96

Walloons, industrious chai-acter

of, 5, 111
War of the Cow, 24, 25, 29, 113
War of the Spanish Succession,

114
Warfus^e, Count of, 82, 83 et seq.
Waulsort, 4
Wild Boar of Ardennes, 49-67,

117
Wilhelmshoe, 118
William of Orange, 67
Worms, Diet of (1496), 69

Zoutman, Lambert, 103

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